


The Witch Uniter

by Tenshinrtaiga



Series: The Witch Uniter [1]
Category: Nine Lives of Chloe King (TV), The Covenant (2006)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-11
Updated: 2012-06-07
Packaged: 2017-11-02 08:27:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 32
Words: 66,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/366978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tenshinrtaiga/pseuds/Tenshinrtaiga
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chloe is a witch of the Covenant moving to San Francisco to complete her Uniter duties. She meets Alek and feels an instant spark but can a witch and a Mai really work it out?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

[Chloe ](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/0002tb66/s640x480)smiled widely as she posed for the cameras quickly. She was wearing sky high black heels, a fitted knee length [red Amanda Wakeley dress](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/0002kw9k/s640x480) with accented hips and a double belt. She walked into the restaurant, ignoring the way the paparazzi parked themselves in front so that they could spy on her through the restaurant’s window.

Spotting a group of rowdy men in the back, Chloe smiled and made her way over, “Hey, boys,” She smirked, her tone sensual as she leaned down to kiss the blond man’s cheek.

“Hey, Baby Girl,” The tall, brunet leader responded easily as Chloe took her seat amongst them, “How did your interview go?”

“Eh,” She rolled her eyes easily, reaching out to snag one of the boys’ beers. She was aware of exactly how juxtaposed she looked in her professional, haute couture dress surrounded by boys in ripped jeans and t-shirts in a bar. If it were up to her, she’d be in ripped jeans too, “It wasn’t bad; same old generic questions. ‘What are you doing next?’ ‘Are you seeing anyone’? Blah, blah, blah,” She made a face as she took a sip of beer, aware of the nonstop camera shuttering going on outside. Chloe was aware that her life was under constant scrutiny and it wouldn’t be the first time the paparazzi scored pictures of her and her friends drinking underage and it wouldn’t be the last. But unlike other models and actresses, she’d never stumbled through the streets drunk. Not only did she know how to control herself, but leaving herself vulnerable even for a minute could spell disaster. Most girls just had to worry about being taken advantage of, but Chloe had to worry about more sinister plots courtesy of her enemy The Order.

Sighing as once again her thoughts wandered down the depressing alley that was her life, she turned to look at the boys by her side. She had grown up with these guys and trusted each one with her life.

First, there was [Caleb](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/0002pz6d/s640x480). He was gorgeous at 6’1 with dark brown hair, kind brown eyes and an _amazing_ body. It didn’t help that Caleb was easily the nicest person she had ever met. Growing up, he was considered the oldest and the leader. Despite finding out later that he wasn’t really the oldest, the others still considered him to be their leader and followed his orders without question. He was one of Chloe’s best friends and her first love.

Then came [Reid](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/0002qzz2/s640x480). Reid was 6 foot with slightly longer blond hair and the clearest grey eyes she had ever seen. He was gorgeous and the worst part was that he knew it. Reid was the biggest player she had ever met and as a model, she had met a lot. But he was also the most loyal man she had ever met, despite his dislike of anything resembling authority- especially anyone who thought they had authority over him.

Growing up, there had always been two sides: Caleb’s and Reid’s. Caleb was their big brother. He led them, he made the decisions and he always did what was right. Reid was the rebellious brother who never did what was told, always screwed up, but always had your back. The two would butt heads over anything and everything. She remembered one time, Reid and Caleb didn’t speak to each other for a week because they were fighting over what jam they liked better. Granted, they were 9 when this happened, but the meaning was still the same.

[Pogue ](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/0002rh4w/s640x480)was the oldest after Caleb and because of that, was closer to him and generally took his side. He was majorly built with dark blond hair and hazel eyes. If Reid was the rebel then Pogue was the wild child. His hair had been grown out in the 8th grade because his father made a comment on how long hair on men made them look absurd. He got a motorcycle because he knew how his mother would freak out about it and moved out of his house at 16 because he knew it would drive his parents crazy.

[Tyler ](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/0002swke/s640x480)was the youngest and nicknamed Baby Boy with dark brown hair and piercing blue eyes. He was sweet and kind and was generally considered meek because he had a long fuse and was hard to anger. He was closest to Reid and was constantly stuck calming the blond down or talking him out of stupid things.

Lastly, there was [Chase](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/0002w5cc/s640x480). Until a little less than a year ago, it was thought that his family hadn’t survived the Damnation. He had light brown hair and light blue eyes with a smirk planted perpetually on his face. He, like Chloe, didn’t have a determined Reid vs. Caleb side, preferring to pick which ever side would stir the pot more. Chase was adopted and growing up, had never known anything about magic. He had been forced to muddle along, figuring things out as he went. It wasn’t until later that he met his birth father and found out the truth.

All five of them were warlocks. Their families had immigrated to America and formed The Covenant of Silence, swearing never to reveal magic to outsiders. They had kept that silence for hundreds of years. Chase’s ancestor, John Putnam, was accused of witchcraft and executed during the Damnation- known to humans as the Witch Trials. The other four families thought that this was the end of the Putnam line until Chase showed up proving to be descended from Putnam’s bastard son Hagen Goodwin-Pope. When Chase first appeared, he was sick with addiction and tried to kill Caleb. Caleb won their fight during his Ascension- his 18th birthday.

Warlocks were normal until their 13th birthday where they gained the use of some of their magic. It wasn’t until their 18th birthday- their Ascension- that they gained all of their power. But the magic is addictive and the more a warlock uses, the more they age, the power being too strong for the human body.

After Chase ascended he gained twice the normal amount of power from his father. There would have been no way for Caleb to defeat him if it hadn’t been for Caleb’s own father William willing his son his power too. After the Ascension, the power becomes your life. Will it away and you die.

After Chase lost, he retreated into the magics that he never got to study as a child. After several months, he returned to Ipswich, Massachusetts and begged the other four families to allow him to study his family’s books. Caleb was against it, but despite being the official leader after his father’s death, was overruled by the older generation who wanted to renew the Covenant with the Putnam name. Chase was allowed access to the books Caleb and the others had spent their whole lives studying on the condition that Chase’s magic be temporarily bound, both to keep him from being a danger but also to rehabilitate his addiction. As time wore on, Chase’s addiction ceased to fuel his behavior and he gradually became an accepted member within the families. Despite technically being the oldest, Chase was not given leadership of the Covenant, but was allowed to into the Covenant as Head of his family (though he was the only member of it).

The official Covenant consists of the Head members of each family line. In theory that would have been William Danvers, Reynold Parry, Alexander Simms, Scott Garwin and hypothetically Jacob Goodwin-Pope, Chase’s father. The Danvers were always the leaders and always gave birth to the oldest (disregarding the unknown Goodwin-Popes). William Danvers was leader of the Covenant and when he grew too sick (a mixture of addiction and the aging that comes with it), Caleb unofficially took his place with the other three Heads taking most of the burden. After William’s death, Caleb was given the full burden as was his duty as the official leader. When Chase returned, he too took up the mantle of Head.

That just left Chloe. She was not a Danvers, Parry, Simms, Garwin or even a Goodwin-Pope-Collins-Putnam (as the others teasingly called Chase). She was just a girl left on the Danvers doorstep 10 years ago with a letter from her father explaining her situation. Chloe King was the Uniter. The one prophesized to unite the underworld, filled with witches and Jackals and Mai, with the human world. She would have 9 lives to accomplish this goal. 9 Lives to Live and 9 Lives to Endure.

Francis King had spent most of his life working against The Order, an organization bent on the destruction of all species not human. He had received a tip that The Order believed that the Uniter had been born and had begun to wage a massacre on all the villages of non-humans where there were lots of children. Chloe had been in one of these villages in Ukraine. Her entire town had been wiped out, including her family. She was the lone survivor. What no one knew was that Chloe- then known as Katya- had not survived. Katya Anstas had died… and then she had come back. The Uniter had been found.

Francis then took Katya back home with him to America and renamed her Chloe King, vowing to protect her from The Order, but it was too late. Word of a survivor had reached them and they began to suspect that it had been the Uniter. Francis kept Chloe as hidden as he could while still giving her a normal life with his wife Meredith. But 10 years ago, The Order found them and killed Meredith. Francis was able to take Chloe away, but knew that any child connected to him would be suspected of being the Uniter. So he brought her to the strongest of the underworld- The Covenant- for protection while he fled, hoping to send The Order on a goose chase.

Chloe spent a few years being raised by “Uncle William” and “Aunt Evie” but as William’s addiction to the power worsened, Evelyn decided Chloe needed to be raised by more stable parents and so Chloe began living with the Simms. Chloe grew up as if she were a member of the Covenant- reading the books, learning the rules, studying magic. Despite being two years younger than the other boys, she never felt left out.

As they all grew up, her feelings for the boys began to change. It was only natural for a someone to wonder about the line that separated best friends from boyfriends. She was 14 when Caleb became her first boyfriend. Well, he was really her first everything. First boyfriend, first love, first time… They broke up because they realized that there was no passion in their relationship. They loved each other, they were fond of each other and they cared about each other, but they were all those things as friends too.

Then Chloe dated Pogue. That lasted all of three weeks. It was fun and unlike her relationship with Caleb was all about passion, but having all passion and nothing else didn’t make for a very good relationship.

Chloe dated a few human boys after that, but on her 15th birthday received a drunken kiss from Reid. The next morning the two played it off as nothing, but it continued to happen. They’d be talking one minute and making out the next. They refused to admit they were dating, in fact going out of their way to prove that they weren’t. They would both go on dates with other people and yet those other people never lasted very long. Reid was Chloe’s longest relationship. They were passionate and fond and cared and it was probably the best relationship either of them had ever had, and yet it was like something was missing. Both of them felt it and yet neither of them could figure out what it was. They broke up mutually but their closeness never faded.

Then Chase came breezing into town. He was fun and exciting and Chloe fell pretty hard. When she found out the truth about him, she was pretty heartbroken: her first heartbreak, really. The “Sons of Ipswich” ruled the entire town and since she was pretty much considered one of them, she ruled as well. She broke others’ hearts, they didn’t break hers. When he came back, he apologized for hurting her. He had actually grown to care about her, but she couldn’t let him back in. Despite that, they became very good friends and she found that she could tell Chase anything.

But now The Order was building momentum and starting to increase their attacks. It was looking like they were readying for another round of massacres and Chloe knew that she couldn’t let that happen. It was time for her to begin her duties as the Uniter. It was the summer before the boys were set to start college. Originally, Caleb was to head to Harvard, Reid: NYU, Pogue: Dartmouth. Tyler: Princeton and Chase… well, no one really knew what Chase was planning. But now they were all to go to Stanford. Chloe hated that they had to give up their dreams for her, but she needed to be protected and they refused to back down on the issue. San Francisco was the hub of the underworld; the meeting grounds for Jackals, Mai, Warlocks and all the other species. All six of them would be moving to San Francisco soon.

When Chloe was young, she wanted to be a model, as most girls were prone to wishing at some point in their life. Unlike most girls, however, Chloe’s families were rich, well connected and hated to let their little girl down. They all debated the issue. At first the Heads decided against the idea. The Covenant was to remain a secret and it wouldn’t do well to draw attention, but the women persuaded them. Chloe was wanted by a deadly organization. Wouldn’t it be safer to put her in the spotlight where she would always be watched? That way The Order would have an even more difficult time getting to her. It was finally agreed and Chloe was allowed to become a child model… which led to child acting which led to where she is now. Chloe King, at 16, was a successful actress, but preferred modeling. She never did anything but short guest appearances in movies and tv shows and doing a few commercials. Now that she was taking up her Uniter duties, her lifestyle made it even easier for her to travel the world to meet with the other species and create ties.

She and the boys were on the last leg of their journey. They had returned to Boston a few days ago and were packing the last of their things for their new house in San Francisco. Their house- well, really more of a mansion, was a little outside the city. This meant Chloe had a 20 minute drive to the public school recommended by Valentina, the leader of the San Franciscan Mai. However, this also meant that there would only be a 30 minute drive for the boys to Stanford.

“Chloe, you ready?” Chase asked, a hand going to her back as he leaned down over her. While Chloe had been spacing out, the boys had all stood up and gotten ready to leave, “Our flight leaves in an hour. We have to head to the airport.”

Smiling tightly, the strawberry blonde nodded and stood up. On the drive to the airport, she took a good look around. She was leaving home for the first time really and wouldn’t be back until winter at the earliest. She would miss this…  



	2. Chapter 2

Chloe grunted as she hoisted another box high onto her hip, struggling to balance. They should have hired movers, but nooo. Too many valuables, too many magical items. She began taking the stairs slowly, working hard to transport her boxes to her new room. This was her 8th box so far and she wasn’t even halfway done. It was times like this that she wished she didn’t own so many clothes.

 

As if knowing exactly what she was thinking she heard Chase snicker softly behind her. Turning to glare at him, she stopped short. Chase’s section of boxes were gone. Now, he didn’t have nearly as many things as her, but there was still no way that he could have finished by now.

 

“There’s this thing called magic.” He explained, clearly reading her confusion on her face.

 

Chloe blinked before nearly slapping her forehead. Luckily she caught herself before she dropped her boxes to do so. Setting them gently on the stair, she allowed her eyes to flash with flames as the boxes disappeared. Turning her eyes to the rest of her pile, she again drew a spark of power and they too disappeared. Smiling in satisfaction, she turned to thank Chase only to freeze, a guilty look on her face, “Caleb.”

 

Caleb stood beside Chase looking at her in disappointment. Caleb was the one most strict on them for using their powers. He saw what his father’s addiction did to his mom and how it affected him. Caleb never wanted to see any of his friends withering away and dying.

 

“You shouldn’t use for such meaningless things,” Caleb said simply, aware that his disappointment would be punishment enough for the girl. He leaned down to pick up his last box and walked up the stairs to his room.

 

Chase rolled his eyes, but Chloe frowned feeling horrible. She knew that Caleb only wanted what was best for her and she truly hated to let him down- especially when it involved magic, “I’m going to go unpack those boxes.”

 

“By hand?” Chase asked despite already knowing the answer. He didn’t even bother turning around to see her nod. He walked through the living room and dining room to the kitchen where he exited through the side door that led to their garage. Inside the spacious garage sat seven shining vehicles: Tyler’s Hummer, Caleb’s Mustang, Pogue’s motorcycle, Reid’s Aston Martin, Chloe’s Audi, Chase’s Mercedes and of course the shared Escalade- the only vehicle they had that could seat all 6 of them together.

 

Chase made his way to his car. He’d used to finish packing ages ago and he was tired of hanging around the house. Time to have some fun, he smirked.

~~~

Chloe sighed as she began unpacking her massive amount of clothes. Luckily, she had already used earlier to expand her closet because she felt too guilty to use now. Grabbing one of the boxes, she made her way inside her closet, which was now large enough to be about half the size of her entire bedroom. She opened her box and began hanging everything up on hangers. Jeans in the lower left section, fancy dresses and gowns on the far right, t-shirts on the top left, skirts on the lower right, fancy tops on the upper right and casual dresses on the far left, she mentally chanted as she fluttered around organizing everything so that her casual clothes were on the left and her fancy clothes on the right. Last were her shoes which went on the shelved far wall below several coat hooks which Chloe used to hang up her purses. As she finished putting away her shoes, she momentarily worried that there wouldn’t be enough space, but luckily that wasn’t the case though she would soon have to figure out where she could put any new shoes she bought.

 

Sighing in exhaustion she collapsed on her bed. The hard part was over. Now all she had to do was organize her room. Looking at the beige walls, Chloe scrunched up her nose in distaste. Beige was boring. She felt a twang of guilt, but quickly used to change the walls a soft blue color. Deciding that her bed needed focus, she decided to put a design on the wall behind it. She wasn’t creative like Reid so she was forced to google pictures on her phone until she found a design she liked. Once again she used so that the area behind her bed changed to a dark chocolate brown color and the pattern she picked out swirled in light blue. Then she switched the color of her cloth headboard from brown to light blue as well.

 

Having rested her body while using, Chloe got up, catching her second wind and began bustling around, unpacking trinkets and pictures until she was finally done. Sweaty and exhausted, she trudged to her bathroom, grunting when she realized she hadn’t unpacked anything for it. Too tired to move, her eyes flashed with fire and her bathroom supplies came flying through the door to place themselves perfectly on the shelves. Stripping, she sank into the hot water her shower offered and began to think about what she still needed to do.

 

Tomorrow was her first day of school in San Francisco. She was starting a little bit late; the kids would have been in school a week and a half already. This was also the first time she’d ever be in a public school. In Ipswich, she and the boys attended Spencer Academy- a private school that basically fed into the Ivy Leagues, especially Harvard. She didn’t really know what to wear since Spencer had a strict uniform only policy so she’d probably spend a while trying to figure out what kids wore to public school.

 

Then, if it wasn’t too late, she might take her car out and look around the city. Maybe try and see how to get to her school so that she didn’t get lost in the morning.

 

Chloe turned her head as she heard a loud knock on the door. Through the fog on the shower glass she saw Caleb standing by her bathroom door, “Hey, Chase picked up pizza for dinner. Come down when you’re done, okay?”

 

“’kay!” Chloe smiled back, happy that Caleb wasn’t still mad at her for earlier, “Be down in a sec.”

 

The boy nodded and left. Chloe rested her head against the cool tile of the shower and took a deep breath. This is who she was now. Chloe King from San Francisco. Chloe King the Uniter. She felt her stomach rumble, reminding her that hot food was waiting for her so she turned off the water and grabbed a towel to dry off and wrap around her hair before donning a fluffy white bathrobe and heading down the stairs to meet the boys in the kitchen.

 

“Lookin’ good, Baby Girl!” Reid wolf whistled before taking a large bite of pepperoni pizza. The boys laughed and Chloe nodded in good humor reaching out for her own slice and, like the boys, didn’t bother with a plate.

 

Tyler stood up and grabbed himself a second beer and one for Chloe before taking the stool next to where she was standing, “Nervous?” He asked.

 

The strawberry blonde smiled at him. Tyler truly was like a brother to her. He could always read her so well, “Little. I hope no one recognizes me.”

 

“They shouldn’t. Not at first anyway,” Caleb reassured her taking a sip of his own beer.

 

Chloe’s fame worked as a double edged sword. It kept her in the spotlight which made her less of an easy target for The Order, but it also meant that she had very little privacy and lots of annoying- I mean adoring- fans. At Spencer, all the kids grew up with her so none of them ever made a big deal about her fame, but this would be a new school with new kids. She knew that one day they’d recognize her, but she hoped to keep that day far in the future, so she opted for a small disguise. Chloe was renowned for her fashion sense so her public school persona would be dressed average, maybe with a lot of layers since Chloe wasn’t known for being afraid of showing skin. She’d also bought clip on hair extensions to make it look like she had blonde highlights. As a new kid coming in late, she knew that she would be noticed by the student population, but she hoped that these changes, while small, would be enough to keep her under the radar.

 

“You’ll be fine,” Pogue spoke up, reaching across the kitchen island to gently tug on one of Chloe’s curls, soliciting a smile from her.

 

Chase smirked, “And if you’re not, we’ll just wipe their memories.” Reid choked out a laugh around his pizza but Caleb glared angrily.

 

“Relax. He’s just joking,” Pogue grinned humorously while trying to calm Caleb down. Chase just looked at the leader in challenge. Chase loved to push Caleb’s buttons because despite Chase being the oldest, Caleb was the leader.

 

Rolling her eyes, Chloe snagged another slice of pizza before backing out of the kitchen, “I’m gonna throw some clothes on and explore a bit. See if I can’t navigate the city a little. I’ll be back in a few hours.”

 

Getting vague nods and grunts in response, Chloe smiled and walked back to her room while finishing her last slice. She went into her closet and grabbed the first pair of jeans she saw and a silky navy blue racer back tank. She then turned to the back left behind her day dresses to grab a casual off white jacket. Realizing that the jeans she had put on were skinny jeans, she made her way to the back of her closet and put on her white bamboo flip flops. She paused to debate on whether or not to grab a purse, but opted not to, simply putting her debit card, license, cell phone and $50 in emergency cash in her back pocket before heading out the door.

 

Climbing into her light silver Audi she pressed the button to automatically open the garage door and sped out. Chloe started by following the route to her new school. It ended up being a 15 minute drive in the middle of the night, but tomorrow morning it would probably be longer due to morning traffic. Then she began to aimlessly make her way through the streets, steadily learning her way around San Francisco. When she became sufficiently lost enough, she turned her GPS on and followed the directions home.

 

Collapsing onto her bed, she smiled, satisfied that she now knew enough of the city to be able to get by tomorrow- well, later today, she mentally corrected herself, checking the time. Opting to wake up a little earlier than usual to pick out her clothes for school, she quickly changed into purple and white plaid pajama pants with an NYU patch on the thigh and a matching purple Violets t-shirt that Reid got her when he went to check out the school. Turning off her bedside lamp, Chloe easily fell into an exhausted sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Chloe groaned as the hot water relaxed her tense muscles. She automatically reached out for her shampoo: Organix’s Cherry Blossom Ginseng shampoo and inhaled the scent as she lathered. She loved the smell which was flowery without being overpowering. Then she reached for Aussie’s Deep Conditioner which smelled of coconut. With hair as frizzy as hers, she needed to use deep conditioner every time she shampooed. While she waited for the conditioner to do its thing she lathered her body using Bath & Body Work’s Cherry Blossom body wash and washed her face with Aveeno’s acne wipes. Even models got break outs. After washing her conditioner out, she rubbed Clean & Clear’s Morning Burst on her face to give it a beautiful natural glow. Chloe hadn’t decided on what outfit to wear yet, so to be safe, she also rubbed some on her legs- a little trick to make her waxed legs shine in case she chose to wear something that showed off her stems. Finally, she poured Infusion’s Step 3 Leave In Treatment into her hair, once more to help control her frizz.

 

Stepping out of the shower, she padded herself dry, taking care to dry her face fully. Chloe had to air dry her hair since using any kind of heat treatments left it a frizzy afro that took hours to smooth. Slipping into matching underwear, she looked down at her make up box and sighed. Normally, Chloe liked to wear bright colors or bold lines. Nothing so overdone that she wound up looking like a clown, but you could always tell that she was wearing makeup. Today, she reached down for a soft copper color and gently dabbed a small amount on her eyelids, using her fingers to soften it. Chloe grabbed some mascara deciding to forego eyeliner. She used a dab of concealer to get rid of her dark circles and then smeared a bit of matte pink lipstick on her lips, giving her face the finishing touch. All in all, her face looked beautiful in a bare minimum kind of way.

 

Chloe paced up and down her closet floor, looking at the left side of her closet, trying to decide what outfit to wear to her first day at her new school. Okay, Chloe, think average teenager. A flash of checkers caught her eye and she smiled pulling out her black and white [Numph check shirt dress](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/0002xdd3). It was cute while still being nice and plain. Best of all, now that she had the main piece, an entire outfit fit together in her mind. Slipping on the dress, she then walked over to her shelves of shoes, picking out her [Jeffrey Campbell Abiertos](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/0002y2qf/s640x480) in black. Taking a quick minute, she put her damp hair up into two messy braided pigtails. Lastly she grabbed her [Barney’s original leather biker jacket](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/0002zkzx/s640x480) and put it on. Taking a good look at herself in the full length mirror behind her closet door, she smiled. Nice and average while still dressing like herself. This was definitely something she would wear on a normal day out with her friends. Exiting her closet, she grabbed her keys off her unused desk and ran out the door wanting to leave early in case she ended up stuck in traffic.

 

Running down the stairs, she passed a bleary eyed Tyler making his way back up, presumably to go back to bed. They boys didn’t start school for another couple of days so they were just lazing about the house now that everything had mostly been unpacked. Speeding through the kitchen, she snatched the piece of toast Chase was about to take a bite out of. She turned around to see his expression as she walked through the garage door backwards. Chloe snickered loudly at Chase’s adorably cute confused expression, drawing his attention. Chloe turned back around just as realization hit Chase’s eyes.

 

Holding onto the toast with her teeth she used her car keys to open her door and smoothly slid in. While waiting for the garage door to finish opening she took the opportunity to nibble on her toast. She normally didn’t eat breakfast because eating after she woke up made her queasy, but she was feeling particularly nervous today and hoped that some food would settle her stomach. It seemed to be working.

 

Gliding through the city in her car also helped to calm her down. She actually wound up at the school faster than she expected. People seemed to notice her car as she parked. Now that she was thinking about it, an Audi was a little bit conspicuous, but luckily most of the kids lost interest pretty rapidly. Getting out of the car also drew looks, this time because no one recognized her. These kids had been going to school together for years and a new kid was news, especially one who showed up after school had already started.

 

Swinging the messenger bag filled with her school things that she’d placed in her car earlier, she looked the school over. All in all, it was a pretty typical looking public school. Spencer had been all old bricks and older history. This might be fun.

 

Looking down at her watch, she decided to stop by the café at the edge of the block for a cup of coffee. Walking in, she noticed a lot of what she assumed would be her classmates. None of them paid her any mind so she relaxed and order a Chai Latte before heading back to the school.

 

She wandered the halls looking for the office. The school had three floors and was rather large. By the time she figured out where the office was, she’d finished her drink and the halls were crowded with students, some giving her appraising looks, clearly checking out the new kid. Walking into the office, she saw two people. One was a petite girl about Chloe’s age in an [Angel Eye ditsy floral dress](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/000304br) with dark hair nibbling on a pen as she poured over some paperwork. The other was a woman who had the unfortunate luck of aging rather poorly. As a witch, Chloe was sensitive to people’s aging, knowing that she could wind up looking like she was 80 at 20.

 

“Uhm, hello?” She asked the woman behind the desk who hadn’t even looked up when Chloe entered the room, “I’m Chloe Simms.” Because of her notoriety as Chloe King, she had registered under her adoptive parents names.

 

The woman blinked in confusion before realization dawned, “The new girl. Yes. You realize the school year started last week, yes?” The woman asked in disapproval.

 

Chloe pasted on a smile, “I know,” but said nothing more.

 

Seeing that she wouldn’t be getting an explanation, the woman huffed causing the dark haired girl to snicker quietly in the corner. Unfortunately this drew the woman’s attention, “Miss DeLaurentis! Why don’t you show Miss Simms around?” It may have been a question, but it was phrased as a demand.

 

“Yes, Ma’am,” the girl spoke, suddenly going serious, afraid of getting into any trouble.

 

The woman slid Chloe her schedule which had her locker number and combination scrawled messily at the top. Before either of them could get into any more trouble, the other girl grabbed Chloe’s arm and dragged her out of the office and into the crowded hallway.

 

“Sorry about that. I’m [Amy](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/000349c5/s640x480),” the girl smiled holding out her hand to shake.

 

“Chloe,” The strawberry blonde replied, shaking the other girl’s hand.

 

Smiling widely, Amy grabbed her schedule and began to head down the hall. Chloe had no choice but to follow her and hope the girl was taking Chloe to her locker. After going straight they went through a pair of heavy doors and turned left, “Your locker’s in the back of the building,” Amy turned to explain over her shoulder, “So, did you move here? Where are you from?”

 

“Uhm, Ipswich… Massachusetts,” Chloe expanded when she received a questioning look.

 

“Oh, wow! The other side of the country,” the small girl smiled. Chloe was beginning to wonder if she had any expression other than ‘happy’, “Why San Francisco?”

 

“Family,” She explained vaguely, wanting to change the subject. How was she supposed to explain that she came to this city to create political ties between all the underworld species in a hope for shared peace and prosperity that would eventually lead to a union between the human world and the non-human world?

 

Maybe Amy could tell Chloe didn’t want to talk about it because she changed the subject, “So, you’re a junior, right? Me too. What classes are you taking?”

 

Chloe looked at her in amusement, “I don’t know. You still have my schedule.”

 

Amy stopped walking and looked down. To her embarrassment, there was Chloe’s schedule, still clutched in her hands. Cheeks turning red, she handed it over, “Sorry.”

 

The strawberry blonde laughed genuinely, before handing the paper back without looking at it, “Do we have any classes together?”

 

The other girl smiled brightly. It seemed like she and Chloe were becoming friends. She bent her head down to study the paper, “Hmm. We have AP Physics together 3rd period, lunch 5th, AP Calculus 6th, Economics 7th… Oh! And we have Art together last! So we have Physics in the morning and then all of our afternoon classes together. Cool!” Amy grinned handing back the schedule, “You sure are taking a lot of AP classes. I thought my course load was harsh,” The girl commented, finally continuing down the hall to Chloe’s locker.

 

“I went to a private school,” Chloe explained easily, “I guess it was more advanced.”

 

Nodding understandingly, Amy then paused, “Tada!” She pointed happily to a locker. Chloe put in the combination while Amy leaned on the locker next to her, “You’re going to end up with a full college course load next year. Or will you try and graduate early?”

 

Chloe paused while stuffing various pens and notebooks into her locker, “What do you mean?”

 

“Well, here, if you’re in an AP class, it means you take it with the upperclassmen. So AP Physics for us would be us sitting in on the normal senior physics class. So we’re taking senior classes. So when we’re seniors, we take college classes from San Francisco State to supplement. Like since I won’t have a math class next year, I’ll be taking Multi-Variable Calculus,” Amy said with a scrunched up face, clearly distasteful of the idea, “I only have a few AP classes. You have basically all of them, so next year, you’ll have almost all of your classes at State. Everything but Government and Art.”

 

Shrugging, Chloe responded, “Actually, just Art. I took Government already. That’s why I’m in Economics.”

 

“See! So what will you do? Will you take a supplemental art class and graduate early?” Amy asked, “If you’re going to wind up with a full college load anyway, that would make sense.”

 

Chloe shrugged again, scanning her schedule for her first class, not really caring, “I don’t know. I don’t have to decide right now, right? And the school hasn’t talked to me about it yet.”

 

Shaking her head, Amy let it go, “Do you need help getting to your first class?”

 

Nodding gratefully at her new friend, Chloe smiled, “AP Lit.”

 

“Come on, I’ll take you,” Amy smiled, walking to the nearest staircase and climbing up three floors, “The extras –like art, home-ec and choir- are all on the first floor along with the offices, the gym and the cafeteria. The second floor is for the hard sciences- bio, chem., physics- and the third floor is pretty much for everything else- history, lit and econ.”

 

“That makes sense,” The strawberry blonde nodded.

 

“It means a lot of running around, but I guess its good cardio,” The small girl shrugged easily.

 

“That’s good. School starts earlier here so I don’t have time to run in the mornings anymore,” Chloe admitted.

 

Amy tilted her head to the side in curiosity, “You run?” She herself did not work out and to be honest, Chloe didn’t really look like the jock type.

 

Chloe scrunched up her nose, “Not a lot. Just two miles everyday. I usually do it in the morning, but I guess now I’ll have to do it at night.” The two were now loitering outside of Chloe’s classroom.

 

Amy’s eyebrows rose. That sounded like a lot to her, “Were you on the track team at your old school?”

“God no!” the other girl exclaimed laughing, “I usually hate running. But I don’t get legs like these,” she gestured downwards, “By sitting at home eating bonbons. The only exercise I love is yoga… and sex,” Chloe smirked.

 

The brunette choked out a laugh, “I can’t believe you just said that!” She laughed. Suddenly, the girl straightened up and patted down her hair, “Heads up. London calling at 6 o’clock.”

 

“…That means nothing to me,” Chloe admitted. Amy reached out and bodily turned her to face behind her where an attractive man was walking their way bouncing a basketball and talking to a few other similarly jock like guys.

 

“That is [Alek Petrov](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/00031dae/s640x480), the hottest guy at this school,” Amy whispered as Alek moved closer. Alek passed the two girls by with barely a look. In fact, the only look he gave was to Chloe in a casual once over of the new girl before turning away dismissively.

 

“And there he goes,” Amy sighed wistfully as Alek bid farewell to his friends and stopped at a locker down the hall. Chloe watched on as he greeted an attractive girl who then leaned up to plant a hot kiss on his lips, “That’s his girlfriend Mimi. She transferred here last year. They’ve been joined at the lips ever since. I heard they knew each other before and that she transferred here to be with him.”

 

On the one hand, Chloe was slightly offended. She had never been dismissed before and certainly not by a boy. On the other hand, this was a good thing. No one seemed to have recognized her. A part of Chloe wanted to show this boy. To do something that would demand his attention, but common sense dictated that she not draw any attention to herself. Besides, he had a nice, beautiful girlfriend so what was the point? “Why do you call him London?” Chloe asked curiously.

 

“He moved here from London a few years ago. I’m friends with his cousin Jasmine. They’re both seniors,” Amy explained just as the warning bell rang, “I better go before I’m late.”

 

“Have you even been to your locker yet?” Chloe asked worriedly. She hoped that she hadn’t inconvenienced Amy. Amy had been really nice to her and it was good to have a new friend.

 

“Nope,” Amy popped the ‘p’ sound as she spoke, “I have study hall first period, so I don’t need to go to my locker.”

 

Nodding in understanding, Chloe waved the girl off and entered into her first class of the day. She took a deep breath. Okay, Chloe. Just think normal.


	4. Chapter 4

Chloe let out a deep breath of relief as she finished counting down the minutes and the bell for the next class rang. AP Lit turned out to be complete torture. The entire class was spent basically rereading the chapter that had apparently been the homework assignment. A book that she’d read a few years ago thanks to Reid. One wouldn’t know it looking at Reid or even after talking to him, but he was an avid reader.

 

Making her way to her study hall in the freshmen biology classroom, Chloe sat in the back and just collapsed over her desk. Her Lit class had left her so bored she was literally seconds away from falling asleep.

 

“Tough first period?” A cheerful voice asked next to her causing Chloe to lift her head to see who was talking.

 

“Sorta,” She breathed, wrapping her arms around her head comfortably while still looking at the boy, “It was pretty boring.”

 

“What did you have?” The Asian boy asked curiously as he sat down next to her.

 

Chloe checked her schedule, “Lit with Johnson,” she read off.

 

“Johnson’s tough,” The boy spoke, “I’m [Paul](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/00033sya/s640x480), by the way.”

 

“Chloe” She smiled, happily. This school was really friendly so far. First Amy and now Paul, “And I wouldn’t know if he was tough, but the book we’re reading in class is one I read a while ago so it was pretty yawn worthy.”

 

Paul nodded his head in understanding, “Oh. Well, the monitor for this study hall doesn’t care if we sleep, so if you’re tired…” He trailed off, taking in her relaxed, head down position.

 

“No, I’m okay,” Chloe sat up, “I guess I’m just out of it. It’s my first day,” She explained.

 

“I know,” Paul grinned. At her questioning look, he expanded, “Everyone knows. They’ve been talking about you all morning.”

 

“…It’s only second period,” Chloe stated plainly, clearly surprised. Yes, she expected to be news, but this was quick, even for her.

 

He just shrugged easily, “Apparently people really like your car… and they think you’re really hot,” Chloe gave the Korean boy an odd look, “Not me!” He hurried to explain before realizing he probably just offended her, “Not that you’re not… What I mean is, it’s just gossip and I have a girlfriend.”

 

Chloe laughed genuinely, garnering some looks from the other people in the study hall and even the monitor up front, “I got ya.”

 

“So where are you from?” Paul asked, turning around in the chair to face her fully.

 

“Massachusetts,” Chloe answered. She could tell already that question was going to get old, fast.

 

He nodded, “Cool. I have cousins in Massachusetts.”

 

“Really? Where?” She asked curiously.

 

“Boston,” He replied easily, “But to be fair, I’m Asian. I have cousins everywhere.”

 

Chloe let out another laugh, “I see,” She smiled teasingly, “Well, I’m from Ipswich; sort of a small town off the coast.”

 

“Did you swim a lot?” He asked.

 

She looked at him oddly, “You ask a lot of questions.”

 

Paul nodded awkwardly, closing off slightly, “Yeah. I get that a lot. Sorry if I’m bothering you.”

 

Chloe felt bad for the poor boy, “I didn’t say it was a bad thing. Yes, I swim a lot. All of my friends were on the swim team actually. My old school has been the National Champ 4 years in a row.”

 

“Cool,” Paul smiled widely, happy that he wasn’t about to be insulted, “The only sport we’re good at around here is Basketball. We won the State Championships last year.”

 

“That’s cool too,” She responded comfortingly. Paul grinned, happy to be talking to someone who didn’t find him annoying or want to insult him. They chatted off and on for the rest of the hour before the bell rang signaling the next period.

 

Chloe grabbed her notebook and the book she’d been given in Lit and went down the hall to her AP Physics class. Once again, she chose a seat in the back and flipped to the next section in her 5 subject notebook. As she was writing the date at the top, Chloe was interrupted by a loud, high-pitched voice.

 

“Chloe!” Amy cried out, zig-zagging between the desks to claim the desk next to her, “How were your first two classes?” She asked, setting her things down.

 

“My first class was pretty boring and I just had a free block, so nothing exciting,” The strawberry blonde answered with a smile.

 

Amy began absentmindedly opening her notebook and scribbling the date at the top, “That’s cool. I just came from PE. Ew,” She made a disgusted face before she saw something out of the corner of her eye that made her smile, “Paul!” She grinned up at the Asian boy, “Chloe, this is my boyfriend-“

 

“Paul,” Chloe finished.

 

“We just had study hall together,” The Asian explained, taking the seat in front of his girlfriend and turning around to face the two girls.

 

Amy clapped her hands in excitement, “This is so cool. We all became friends without knowing that we knew each other…” She ended the sentence looking slightly confused causing the duo to laugh lightly.

 

After class ended, Chloe once again had to separate from the only two people she knew. She ventured down to the first floor’s Home-Ec room for her second free block of the day. This room was set up differently from the rest. Instead of small individual desks, there were large round tables with 5-6 chairs at each. Chloe was one of the last to wander in, so she took the only table that no one was sitting at in the back corner. She pulled out her notebook and her new Physics textbook and began working on the assigned homework. She didn’t need to work on Lit because the only homework they had were the chapters and since she’d already read the book, she had no qualms about skipping the reading.

 

Twenty minutes into the study hall, she heard the front door open and two people shuffle in. Chloe didn’t pay them any mind, too focused on answering her questions when suddenly she heard someone clearing their throat right next to her. She looked up blankly to meet the gorgeous brown eyes of the boy from before. Alex? Alek? Something like that. “Yes?” Chloe asked impatiently. She was losing her train of thought; science was not her best subject.

 

Alek blinked in surprise. No one had ever dismissed him like that and certainly no girl, “Your things are in my seat,” He gestured down to where her book was in front of the seat to her left as she wrote in her notebook in front of her.

 

Chloe simply moved the textbook from her left to her right, which was still free. While she had been talking to Alek, a tan skinned girl sat across from Chloe at the table, “Are you new?” She asked curiously.

 

Chloe opened her mouth to answer but Alek rudely butt in, “Obviously,” He sneered, pulling out his own textbooks to work.

 

Chloe turned to look at him for a second but he was busy digging through his leather backpack- or possibly ignoring her. She turned her attention back to the other girl, “Yes. I’m from Massachusetts. I’m Chloe.”

 

“[Jasmine](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/00032e10/s640x480),” The girl smiled. Chloe recognized the name from Amy’s ramblings. She was Alek’s cousin, “Don’t mind Alek. He’s an ass.”

 

Alek scoffed in his throat, but didn’t look up from what he was doing. What did he care who Jasmine befriended? She was just some human.

 

“It’s cool. I caught that,” The strawberry blonde smirked. This caused Alek to look up at her, but it was Chloe’s turn to ignore him to Jasmine’s amusement, “Is the monitor in this study hall really relaxed?” Chloe asked in curiosity.

 

“What do you mean?” Jasmine responded, fiddling with her pen.

 

Chloe gestured to the door, “You guys just walked in without saying anything to her.”

 

Jasmine smiled in understanding, “Some seniors take college classes at State. The classes are scheduled around study halls since it takes time to get from the school to the college and back again. The classes are blocked together and you either start at the college in the morning and come back here during study hall or leave during study hall in the afternoon and end at the college,” Jasmine explained kindly.

 

Chloe nodded in understanding as the two girls gradually stopped talking and began focusing on their work. Soon, the bell rang signaling the end of class. Chloe waved good bye to Jasmine as they separated in the halls. Chloe felt reasonably confident in calling Jasmine a tentative friend.

 

Sighing, Chloe finally made her way to her locker for the first time since that morning. Dropping off her notebook and her two school books, she slammed her locker shut only to jump in surprise. There on the other side of her locker were Paul and Amy waiting for her.

 

“Ready for lunch?” Amy asked happily.

 

“Sure,” Chloe smiled hesitantly. She did not know where that girl got all her energy.

 

Amy grabbed her hand and then grabbed Paul’s leading both of them to the main door. “Upperclassmen can leave campus for meals,” Paul explained as the duo were pulled outside. They made their way to a small red convertible VW Bug with the top down. Amy pulled out her keys but Paul just hopped over the door into the passenger’s seat. Amy rolled her eyes and opened the car door. Chloe hesitantly climbed into the back, hopping cleanly over the side like Paul.

 

“So where are we going?” She really hoped these two weren’t homicidal Order maniacs luring her away from the school to kill her. I mean, they seemed like nice people, but she could never be too careful.

 

“I’m thinking pizza at Jones’” Amy responded as she took a left turn, “Is that okay?”

 

Paul nodded as he played with his cell phone, “Pizza sounds good.”

 

The two turned briefly to look at Chloe in the back during a red light. “I’m always down for a slice,” Chloe smiled. Amy smiled brightly in response and even Paul looked happy. It seemed Chloe was bonding with the humans; sort of a new experience for her since the brothers had always been her closest friends. The only other humans she was close to the wives of the Covenant (AKA her other mothers) and Sarah and Kate. Chloe made a face at the thought. She hated Sarah and Kate.

 

“This is really nice,” Amy said as they were finishing up their food, “It’s really great that we’re getting along like this. We’re going to be good friends,” She said optimistically.

 

“I hope so,” Chloe smiled genuinely. It was rather nice, wasn’t it?

 

“We should do something after school,” Paul suggested enthusiastically.

 

“After choir,” the brunette spoke commandingly, “Choir’s my after school activity,” She explained to Chloe.

 

Chloe nodded in understanding, but winced, “I can’t today. I’ve got some stuff with the family. Rain check?” At first the two others looked disappointed and Chloe briefly wondered if they thought she was brushing them off. Determined to prove them wrong, she suggested, “Tomorrow?”

 

“Sure!” Amy grinned, happy at the alternative.

 

The strawberry blonde smiled, before hitting herself, “Wait, I can’t do tomorrow either. Uhm, day after? I promise. I should be free on Wednesday.”

 

“Okay,” Paul agreed easily, “I have Korean on Tuesdays anyway.”

 

Chloe grinned widely at her two friends. So maybe her new school wasn’t so bad after all.


	5. Chapter 5

“How was school, Baby Girl?” Caleb asked, lifting his head from the paperwork he was knee deep in. Chloe smiled as she threw her messenger bag on the dining room table before walking back to the kitchen, feeling Caleb’s eyes trail after her. Had she mentioned lately how much she liked this house? The whole place had an open floor plan and you could see all the way through to the living room from the kitchen.

 

Chloe reached down to grab two waters before heading back to sit next to Caleb, “Good. I made some friends,” She smiled, handing the extra bottle over as she sipped at her own.

 

Caleb uncapped the bottle but didn’t take a drink, “That’s good. Tell me about them,” He grinned, turning to face her.

 

“Avoiding paperwork?” She asked knowingly.

 

“God yes,” He admitted easily, groaning at the thought, “It just keeps piling higher and higher!”

 

Chloe raised an amused eyebrow, “You know, you could make the boys fill out their own school registration forms.”

 

Caleb scoffed, “As if they’d actually do it?” He asked incredulously, “I’ve been asking them to do it for months. School starts in two days! If I don’t do it, it will never get done! Chase hasn’t finished paying his tuition, Tyler hasn’t signed for his scholarship money yet and Reid still hasn’t gone to the doctor for his TB test! At least Pogue’s all caught up but that was just because his mom hounded him before we left Ipswich.”

 

The girl let out a wide smile of amusement, laughter bubbling in her throat. She threw her arms around the older man and hugged him tightly, “I love you, Caleb,” She smiled into his shoulder.

 

He wrapped his arms tentatively around the girl, a little confused, “I love you too… Are you trying to get back together with me?” He asked, trying to figure out what just happened.

 

Chloe let out a laugh for real this time and slid back into her chair, grinning at the adorably cute expression on Caleb’s face, “No… although, if you wanna…?” She playfully winked at him, “I just love you. You’re our big brother; you take care of us, you watch over us, you help us. Sometimes I forget how much you do for everyone.”

 

The brunet smiled gently, “Thanks, Baby Girl.” Then a strange look gleamed into his eye, “If you really loved me-“

 

“I’m not helping you get Reid to the doctor,” Chloe interrupted, raising a hand to stop him from finishing, “You know how he feels about them.”

 

Caleb groaned, his head thudding against the hardwood of the table. Reid really hated doctors. Caleb would probably have to knock him out and carry Reid to the doctor’s office across Caleb’s shoulders in order to get him there. “So, really. About your new friends?” He changed the subject back.

 

“Well, I have two new friends. Well, two and a half,” Chloe started. Seeing the boy tilt his head in confusion, Chloe elaborated, “One is a tentative school friend, the other two are friends-friends. First there’s Amy. She was the one who showed me around school. Small, pretty, brown hair, talks a lot, really girly. Then there’s Paul, her boyfriend: Korean, kinda geeky in a comic book way and really inquisitive. Lastly, there’s Jasmine, my tentative school friend. She’s a senior and we talked through our entire free block together,” She summed up.

 

“Nice,” Caleb nodded, happy that she was getting along with her classmates. He was a little surprised to hear that she had become friends with two girls since Chloe had grown up with boys and had the occasional tendency to act like one.

 

“We were supposed to chill after school today, but I remembered that we have that meeting with the Mai today and I couldn’t remember when that was,” She admitted sheepishly.

 

“Eight,” came the easy response as Caleb began to delve back into his paperwork.

 

Chloe nodded, mentally noting the time, “Will it be like our meeting with the Jackals?”

 

Caleb shook his head absentmindedly, “No, the Mai have always done very well. The Jackals are constantly on the run from both the Order and the Mai. I believe we’ll be meeting Valentina, the head of the San Franciscan Mai, at her penthouse apartment.”

 

“The Mai are doin’ alright,” She grinned.

 

He chuckled before turning to look at her once more, “Speaking of Jackals… You and that boy…”

 

“Kai,” Chloe substituted.

 

“Yes, Kai. Are you two…?” He trailed off.

 

The strawberry blonde smiled, “Kai was really sweet. And great in bed,” She winked teasingly, “But no, he is not my boyfriend. I was just…”

 

“Playing around?” Caleb asked rolling his eyes. He wasn’t sure if it was an affect of growing up with boys or growing up with Reid, but Chloe was extremely blasé about her sexual relationships, having no problems discussing them, having them or anything involving them.

 

“Expanding on our inter-spec-ial relations,” Chloe corrected with faux innocence. That’s what she liked to call it. ‘Inter-spec-ial relations’. It usually amounted to sleeping with other species like her Jackal friend Kai. “Speaking of inter-spec-ial relations, Amy, Paul and I are hanging out together Wednesday after school. We might chill here, so no magic,” Chloe stated. Caleb gave her a weird look, “Not that I think you’re the one I have to worry about doing magic randomly, but I still wanna give you a heads up. Don’t worry, I’ll talk to the others too.”

 

Caleb nodded, happy that he wasn’t the one that had to tell the others. That’s what he loved about Chloe. She was perfectly capable of taking care of herself and didn’t expect Caleb to fix all of her problems. Speaking of problems… “CHASE!” Caleb bellowed.

 

Chloe giggled grabbing her bag, “That’s my cue to leave,” She smiled, heading through the living room to the stairs. As she went up, Chase was heading down, “You still haven’t paid your tuition,” she answered his inquiring look. Chase made a face and turned right back around, heading in the opposite direction of Caleb. The girl let out a laugh as they made their way up the stairs and to the left. Her room was the first on the right and Chase’s was first on the left. At the end was Reid. On the other side of the stairs, in a mirror image, Tyler had the room that mirrored her own location, Pogue had Chase’s and Caleb had the one at the far end of the hall that mirrored Reid’s.

 

Entering into her closet, Chloe stripped out of her school clothes and grabbed some black and white running shorts and a green tank top. She pulled her hair into a high ponytail and grabbed her yoga mat from where it was wedged into the corner. Normally, she went for a two mile run in the morning before completing an hour long yoga routine, but since her new school started at 7.30am, a full hour and a half earlier than Spencer used to, she didn’t have time for her full workout and this morning she’d skipped out all together because it was her first day.

 

Chloe threw her yoga mat across her hardwood floor in front of her bed, directly in front of where her flatscreen hung. Popping in one of her many yoga DVDs, she let it play as she opened her windows to let air circulate. The last thing she wanted was her room to smell like sweat.

 

An hour later, she was relaxed and limber, her entire body warm and ready. Throwing on some running shoes, she grabbed her door keys, her ipod and her cell before heading down the stairs and out the front door. Chloe was extremely fit- it pretty much came with being a model- and while she couldn’t exactly run a 4 minute mile, she was pretty damn close. Running two miles usually only took about 10 minutes out of her day. Since they’d just moved in, Chloe wasn’t familiar with where she was going so her run took her longer than the usual 10 minutes but she got to meet one of her neighbors (and her neighbor’s cute dog) so she thought it was worth it. As she made her way back, she made a mental note to go running with the boys soon so that they could explore their neighborhood.

 

Chloe did some cool down stretches on the front lawn before plopping down to sit in the warm sun. Someone once told her that taking a shower after working out caused varicose veins and while she wasn’t sure if it was true, she wasn’t willing to risk it. So she laid out and enjoyed the sun for about a half hour before trudging inside to take a warm shower.

 

Wrapped in a robe, she meandered back into her closet to pick up her school clothes. She momentarily debated on whether or not to put them back on for the meeting with the Mai, before opting not to. Looking at her clothes, she decided to go chic (the Mai were known for their great fashion sense) but not formal (since the boys would probably be wearing jeans despite this technically being a business meeting).

 

Chloe smiled, picking out a skin tight, [bright blue dress](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/000355s7) that she knew from experience made her own blue eyes pop. If she paired it with the leather jacket she wore to school, she’d turn the dress from a clubbing outfit to a chic night out outfit. Walking over to her shelves, she pulled out her new black [ASOS Tease Me](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/0003618r) peep toe boots she’d just bought a few weeks ago.

 

She threw everything on before walking back into her room and slipping into the bathroom to redo her makeup. She sighed before deciding to do her make up how she normally did it instead of the neutral way she put it on that morning. She grabbed black eyeliner and rimmed her upper lid and the outer edges of her lower lid. Then she grabbed blue eyeliner and rimmed her waterline. She did her eyelids in a smoky haze of blues and silver before finishing with blue mascara. Her makeup matched her dress perfectly and made her blue eyes stand out. To make sure nothing distracted from her eyes, she just dabbed on concealer and smoothed on clear lip gloss. She paused on whether or not to add in her fake blonde extensions again. She was dressed normally so there was a huge chance of being recognized, so would the extensions really matter? Opting not to put them on, she left just as she heard a knock on her front door. Chloe slipped on her jacket and grabbed her cell phone, leaving her keys on her table. She opened the door and smiled at Reid, who was leaning on her door frame.

 

Reid glanced her over, eyebrows rising as he noticed her outfit, “You look hot,” He stated simply with a smirk, “Hoping to work on some more inter-spec-ial relations?”

 

Chloe let out a laugh as she grabbed his hand and dragged him down the stairs to the front door where the rest of the boys minus Caleb were waiting. Pogue let out a wolf whistle when he saw her and Chase smirked in appreciation, but nothing else was said. They were all used to the way she liked to dress: trendy and sexy. They all left the house and hopped into the Escalade which Caleb had brought out front for them. They drove to Valentina’s apartment in silence.

 

“You guys remember how this goes?” Caleb asked as they exited the car.

 

“We just did this last Saturday with the Jackals,” Chase sneered, “I don’t think we’ve forgotten.”

 

Caleb ignored the comment and led them into the apartment building. They squeezed into the elevator tightly and Caleb pressed the 18 button. Somewhere between floor 8 and 9, Chloe let out a loud gasp, “Reid, get your hand out from under there!” She scowled looking over her shoulder. She was smooshed in the middle of all of the boys. Reid gave her an innocent look but Pogue reached over to slap him over the head and Reid’s hand disappeared from where it had been inching up the bottom of her dress.

 

When they finally reached the 18th floor, there was a loud rush as they all scrambled to leave the enclosed space at once. They took a few seconds to be grateful for the space that was now between them before walking up to room 1803. Chase, Caleb and Reid stood in front with Pogue, Chloe and Tyler behind them. They all did their best to- well, not hide her since it was a little hard to hide the only girl in a sea of men, but to make her unnoticed.

 

Caleb reached out and knocked on their door. The other side was silent and for a split second, Chloe wondered if there was anyone home, but the door soon opened to reveal a beautiful, older woman who was clearly very good at moving in silence, “The Covenant?” She asked simply. When Caleb nodded, she opened the door to let them in.

 

The six of them moved together as one unit. Valentina led them over to the kitchen where some paperwork was spread out. She looked at all of them for an equal amount of time and they did the same back. Finally she pushed two pieces of papers forward: the contracts. “They’re just as you requested,” She assured everyone. Caleb reached out and absent mindedly handed one to Chase as he read over the other one, “We cannot tell the secrets of the Covenant and you cannot tell the secrets of the Mai.” Still, they continued reading, not trusting her word. Valentina turned her attention to the other four, “I don’t suppose you’ll tell me which of you is the Uniter,” She smiled knowingly. At the shared blank faces, she smiled, “It’s very clever. Because the Covenant moves as a unit, no one knows which of you it is, making for a harder target. And those you do tell can’t say anything because of these magical contracts. I wish I had thought of something so brilliant,” She complimented, but they continued staring expressionlessly.

 

Finally Chase and Caleb finished, both agreeing that the contracts were fine. Caleb, as head of the Covenant signed his and Valentina signed hers. Since Valentina was only head of the San Franciscan faction, the contract was only bound to those in her pride. She could only speak of the Covenant’s secrets to those in her pride and those in her pride could speak it to no one else.

 

“I am Valentina,” She introduced, despite them already knowing her name.

 

“I am Caleb,” Caleb spoke. She knew his name, he was the one she had been in contact with, “This is Chase, Tyler, Chloe, Reid and Pogue,” He spoke simply.

 

Now it was time for the real negotiations to start. Caleb, Pogue and Tyler sat down at the kitchen table facing the door while Chloe, Reid and Chase stood up and stationed themselves at the windows. Valentina looked on in slight confusion. As far as she could tell, Caleb was the leader, but she had thought that the Chase boy was his second. Now, Chase was setting up guard instead of helping in the negotiations. “I assure you, my home is perfectly safe.”

 

Caleb nodded, but said nothing and the others also ignored her words. Valentina sighed inwardly. Apparently she would be receiving answers when the Covenant felt like giving them.


	6. Chapter 6

Chloe leaned heavily on the small table set up with ancient Mai art that sat against the window. She leaned out, her eyes searching for anything that looked out of the ordinary. Other species trying to eavesdrop on their negotiations, Order assassins trying to kill them… Chase checked his watch next to her and shifted slightly. She and Reid knew it was time to alternate positions. Chloe moved to the right to take over Reid’s position as he moved to the left and Chase took over her position watching the center. The others had been negotiating for over two hours on what the Mai would get in this new shared peace that they were trying to bring to the underworld. Right now, they were haggling over the big things, but once the Covenant finished their contracts with all the species, there would be a large gathering where the real arguing would occur between them all.

Pogue stood up swiftly, facing the door and Chase immediately turned around, both of their eyes flashing black, signaling that they were ready to draw immense power if needed. Immediately, she and Reid expanded their territories to pick up Chase’s slack in the center, trusting the two to watch their backs as they continued surveying for danger outside.

Caleb and Tyler remained seated, but they too stared at the front door, no longer speaking. Valentina stood up warily, backing away from the boys while still looking at the front door that held everyone’s fascination.

Suddenly the door clicked and opened as three teenagers walked in. “Jasmine!” Valentina cried out in both relief and anger, “I told you not to interrupt me tonight!”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know you were still working,” one of the girls spoke, fiddling with her keys slightly, “We’ll leave,” they turned to go.

“There’s no need for that,” Caleb interrupted, smiling at them. When it became clear that Valentina knew the intruders, Chase turned around and continued keeping watch. Pogue’s eyes returned to normal, but he did not sit back down. “These are your kids?” Caleb asked.

Valentina nodded, “Yes, this is my daughter Jasmine, my nephew Alek and his girlfriend Mimi,” She turned to face the three teens, “This is the Covenant,” She said gravely causing them to wince. All three knew about the Covenant. Who didn’t? The most feared coven in the world; known for their control over the tumultuous powers that ruled a witch’s life; known for their recklessness and their ruthlessness and more recently, according to rumors, known to be the ones protecting the Uniter.

The three teens hesitantly made their way to the couch, not wanting to get in Valentina’s way. They’d leave the apartment if they could but Caleb had made it clear that they were not to go.

“Hello, Jasmine,” Chloe smiled, quickly looking at the girl’s reflection in the window before returning her eyes to her section.

The three turned their head, wondering who would be greeting her. All they saw was a gorgeous female back. The man in the center twitched and like clockwork all three rotated positions. Chloe walked from the right side all the way over to the left, taking a moment to show her face to the three teens and to smile at her school friend.

“Chloe?” Jasmine asked in surprise as Chloe turned to watch over the left window. The girl turned her head slightly to flash Jasmine a grin, her eyes not leaving the window.

Alek’s eyebrow rose. That cute human from school? Impossible. And yet he could not deny the similarities. She was dressed in the same style: a short dress, a leather jacket and high heels. Her hair was the same although it seemed darker now, though that may be because of the moonlight. It was that same girl!

“This that school friend you were telling me about?” Caleb asked, deciding now was a good time for a break from negotiations. Valentina was also curious about how her daughter knew this girl.

Chloe nodded, “Yeah, she’s the one. I didn’t know Mai went to that school.”

Valentina chose this moment to speak up, “Is she why you asked me for the name of a good high school in San Francisco?” She turned to Caleb.

Caleb nodded, “Chloe’s the youngest.”

“The baby,” Reid teased.

“Shut up!” Chloe snarled annoyed causing her brothers to laugh. Jasmine, Alek and Mimi all walked up to Chloe. She hadn’t met Mimi yet but had seen Alek kiss the girl earlier that morning.

“What are you doing?” Jasmine asked.

Chloe opened her mouth to answer, but Chase cut in sharply, “Keeping watch.”

Alek scoffed in disbelief, “For what? A killer pigeon?”

“You’d be surprised what a warlock can do,” Chloe smirked, turning her head to face him for a quick beat before returning her gaze outside. Alek shifted uneasily, casting a wary glance out the window before returning his gaze to the girl. He took a moment to drink in her looks. In school, he’d barely noticed her; just another human girl. Now, he knew she was a witch and a powerful one if she was in the Covenant. He took in her curly strawberry blonde locks, her bright blue eyes, her gorgeous body encased in a tight blue dress and the best legs he’d seen in ages. Somewhere in the middle of his perusal, Jasmine and Mimi returned to the couch, turned off by Chase’s frosty words.

Chase checked his watch and once again all three rotated positions, Chloe once again taking up the center. Alek followed her, leaning his hip on the small table, “I didn’t know you were a witch,” He said softly in his smooth British accent.

Chloe raised a brow, “I didn’t know you were Mai,” She countered.

Alek shrugged as if to say touché, “Why do you look so different now?” He asked, still in a soft tone of voice.

“What do you mean?” Chloe took a second to look at him in confusion before returning to her post.

“The way you dress, the way you act… you have this air around you.” He tried to explain but felt like he was coming up short.

She turned to look him in the eye, “This is me. Before, I was trying to tone it down. I can’t afford any unnecessary attention. But right now? What you see is who I am,” She said simply before turning to look out the window. She really shouldn’t be distracted right now but she felt like she had to answer his questions.

“It’s kinda hot,” Alek smirked.

Chloe let out a weird sound of disbelief from her throat, throwing him an incredulous look from the corner of her eye.

“Do you mind if I use the bathroom?” Pogue asked Valentina during a pause in the negotiations.

“Of course not. Second door on the left,” She pointed to the hallway straight ahead.

The second Pogue got up and moved, Chloe turned around to cover the door for him, Reid and Chase watching over her central territory. Chloe blinked for a second in surprise when turning around put her face to chest with Alek. She looked up to see him smirk before shifting slightly to the right so that her view of the main exit wasn’t blocked.

Getting the hint, Alek shifted more to the side so that he didn’t obstruct her way. Unable to resist temptation, he reached out to teasingly tug on a curl of hair, watching it jump back into place like a spring. Chloe turned to him slightly with a raised eyebrow. He had been ignoring her just that morning and now he was acting very friendly. Was it simply because he now knew that she wasn’t a human?

“Don’t you have a girlfriend you could be bugging?” Chloe asked, looking at him expectantly.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Alek replied easily, reaching out to tug on her curl once more.

Neither of them saw Mimi tense at his words, but everyone else in the room did. Jasmine put a comforting hand on top of Mimi’s for a moment before withdrawing, not wanting it to seem like she was taking a side.

“That’s not what your Aunt said and that’s not what it looked like at school,” Chloe spoke skeptically. For a second she wondered if Alek was trying to play her, but no one was stupid enough to hit on another girl in front of their girlfriend.

Alek rolled his eyes, “We’re friends. A bit more than friends,” He smirked at her tellingly, “But that’s not the same as being my girlfriend.”

Chloe smiled in understanding, “So you’re friends with benefits. I can understand that.” She and Reid did the occasional friends with benefits thing.

“Oh yes, I can be a very beneficial friend,” He teased, leaning in closer to Chloe.

The girl raised an eyebrow, “Are you asking to be my… friend?” She asked coyly.

Alek looked taken aback for a moment. He was just having some fun flirting. He thought she knew, “Mai can’t kiss humans,” He spoke clearly.

Chloe let out a bell like laugh, “I’m not human,” She said, pointing to herself, “Witch, remember?” The Brit looked at her in slight confusion. Yes, that was true enough, but… He looked at Valentina for guidance, but the woman was equally unsure. Sensing that he was hesitant, Chloe continued, “We could test it,” She flirted.

“You could die,” Alek said incredulously. Didn’t this girl have any self-preservational instincts?

“Eh,” She shrugged, noticing that Pogue had returned to the room, but didn’t retake her post looking out the window, “What’s another life?”

Valentina whipped her head around, “So you are the Uniter?”

“Did we forget to mention that?” Caleb asked in faux innocence. He had known how desperate Valentina was to find out who the Uniter was and had taken a bit of cruel pleasure in not telling her.

Chloe paid no attention to the others, looking only into Alek’s eyes. Slowly the duo drifted closer, suddenly drawn in by a heavy, intense atmosphere. Chloe eyes fluttered shut as her lips met his. The second their lips touched, a huge rush flew through both of them. Her arms wrapped tight around the back of his neck as his came to wrap around her waist. He brought her closer to his body as he backed her against the small table. What had been started with the intention of a small kiss had turned into a passionate make out session.

“Please work on your inter-spec-ial relations another time!” Caleb groaned, turning to refocus on finishing up the contract between him and Valentina.

Chloe separated from Alek, taking in a deep breath, her wide eyes locking with his, “Well, that was…”

“Unexpected,” Alek finished softly. He’d never lost control like that before. The second his lips touched hers, he felt a spark… no, more like lightning. He hadn’t even noticed he’d moved until he’d already had her backed up into the table behind her.

Mimi looked on in pain. She and Alek had met after Alek had just turned 16. She had grown up knowing the truth about who she was whereas Alek had only recently found out. She had taken him under her wing and taught him everything she knew. She cared for him and grew to love him. She always knew that he never felt the same way, but she had hoped that in enough time, he would grow to love her too… But it looked like he would never return her feelings. Despite being together for over a year, he still thought of her as his ‘friend with benefits’.

Reid suddenly started, back snapping straight. This caused everyone to turn to him, the Mai in curiosity and the Covenant in worry. Chloe immediately hopped off the table she had been partially perched on and joined Reid at his window. Looking down at what Reid saw, she raised an eyebrow, “I don’t like coincidences,” She said simply, her eyes flashing black. She turned to look at Caleb, showing off her dark eyes. Caleb gave her a warning look, but Chloe merely smirked in reply, before taking a step backwards. That step should have put her up against the glass window, but instead she Used and phased right through it, falling 18 stories to the ground. The Mai all rushed to the window to see what happened, but there didn’t appear to be any panic going on in the street.

“Fuck yeah!” Reid cheered as he too phased through the window to join Chloe.

“Reid!” Caleb yelled angrily before visibly sagging and letting out a weary sigh. He really should have known better than to expect those two to listen to anything he said. He turned to Chase who looked out the window in curiosity, clearly tracking the movements of the other two, “Watch over them. Help them if they need it.”

Chase turned back to look at their leader with raised eyebrows. The ‘duh’ was illustrated clearly from his expression.


	7. Chapter 7

Reid fell to the ground in a crouch. He automatically looked around to see if anyone had noticed him fall out of thin air. “No one’s looking,” Chloe spoke softly from a few feet away, eyes already locked on their target. She and Reid calmly made their way across the street and began to follow the woman down the block. When she turned the corner, he and Chloe sped up so that they wouldn’t lose her. Once they turned the corner also, they slowed down again, acting completely normal. Perhaps the woman sensed she was being followed because she turned to look behind her, but by then Reid had swung an arm over Chloe’s shoulders and Chloe had ducked her head, giggling. Between Chloe’s club chic outfit and Reid’s skater punk clothes, they looked like two normal teens heading out for the night.

The woman continued walking, but just as she passed an alley, she was suddenly pushed inside by an unseen force. Before she had a chance to recover, Reid and Chloe were there, blocking her exit, their eyes as black as night.

“Now, what is a high ranking Order member like you doing in a place like this?” Reid taunted with a smirk as he looked down at the woman.

When she realized that they knew who she was, her eyes sharpened and her mouth began to form a sneer. If they knew she was from the Order and they attacked her then they must be non-humans.

“Simone, is it?” Chloe asked as she rifled through the redheaded woman’s purse, “We just call you Red. It’s nice to finally have a name to go with that picture of you,” Chloe smiled viciously, “Now, be a good little Order bitch and answer my boyfriend’s question.”

Reid blinked at being called Chloe’s boyfriend, but knew Chloe was just refraining from using their real names. The Order had yet to figure out exactly who the Uniter was and there was no need to wave the answer right in front of their faces.

Simone scoffed and stayed silent. “You’re gonna want to answer her,” Reid warned, “Or things are going to get… messy.” Again Simone stayed silent.

Chloe moved forward as if about to hit the woman before she stopped suddenly, a smile appearing on her face, “No, you know what. I have a better idea,” She said as she got out her cell phone and sent a quick text.

In minutes, Pogue appeared by the mouth of the alley, “What’s up?” He asked as he looked down at Simone.

“Simone doesn’t want to help us. I think you should make her help us,” Chloe smiled. Reid’s eyes widened as he understood Chloe’s intentions. Pogue on the other hand had already figured out what Chloe had wanted. There was no other reason why she would have called him here otherwise.

Pogue leaned down and touched a hand to the redhead’s head, his grip getting stronger when she tried to pull away. His eyes flashed to black and Simone slumped forward, her eyes getting hazy and dull. Several minutes later, Pogue pulled away, “It’s done.”

The three of them helped pull the wobbly woman forward and pulled her back to the sidewalk. They watched as she took feeble steps forward before gradually getting stronger and regaining the strength she had previously, never once turning back and for all purposes, forgetting she even saw them… which was the whole idea.

The three teens went back to the apartment and met with everyone’s inquisitive eyes. Chase was the only one who smirked, having seen what they did while keeping watch for them.

Caleb and the others were all on the couch, the negotiations were clearly finished. “What happened?” He asked seriously.

Chloe sat down between Tyler and Alek whereas Reid and Pogue chose to continue standing, “We saw an Order member.”

Valentina’s spine straightened as the Mai grew worried. Caleb and the others however trusted that the situation was taken care of.

“It was a coincidence that she was passing by. She was heading back to her apartment,” Pogue reassured the Mai.

“I trust that she’s taken care of?” Valentina asked, hinting at the woman’s unfortunate death.

“We dealt with her,” Pogue answered back vaguely.

“Hmm… And she just told you what you wanted to know? That she was returning to her apartment?” Valentina asked in skepticism.

Chloe let out a laugh, “Of course not. We took the information from her mind.” The Mai all turned to look at her in varying degrees of horror.

“You… can do that?” Alek asked tentatively.

Chloe and Pogue simultaneously shrugged, “If we want,” Chloe said simply, “Don’t worry. Not all warlocks can do it. That’s why I had to call Pogue.”

“The Covenant is known for the control and master over the Power,” Valentina spoke softly, “I had no idea to what extent you could use your powers.”

“We all have our specialties,” Caleb tried to downplay, “I’m sure you have Mai who are exceptionally good at certain Mai tactics or traditions.”

Valentina smiled stiffly, “Yes, but none of them can read a person’s mind.”

“It’s not like I do it all the time,” Pogue explained, “I can control it. And its hard magic so, of course, I age for it.”

“Age for it?” Alek asked in confusion causing the Covenant to look at him oddly.

“You’ll have to forgive Alek. He didn’t grow up Mai. Sometimes I forget that he’s still so new to this,” the older woman smiled fondly at her nephew, “In exchange for the massive amount of power warlocks are capable of using, they are cursed with aging the way the Mai are cursed with an inability to be with humans.”

“I wouldn’t call it a curse so much as a side effect,” Chloe turned to look at Alek, “Our body is a conduit. We take that power into our very beings and shape it to do our will. But the power is strong and our bodies are weak. The more we Use, the more strained our body becomes and we begin to age. What’s more, the power is addictive. It makes you want to Use again and again. You become reliant on your magic and soon you can’t go a week, a day, an hour without Using. It’s harder for those of us who can access more because that’s twice the power, twice the seduction and twice the addiction.”

Alek nodded in understanding and the atmosphere grew darker as they thought about what she said, “I think its time for us to make our way home,” Caleb said standing up. The Covenant followed his lead, getting up as well.

“Wait a moment. There’s just one more thing,” Valentina spoke.

Caleb turned suspicious eyes on her, “There is nothing else. The negotiations are complete.”

Valentina smiled, “This has nothing to do with the negotiations. I realize that you are all immensely powerful, perhaps more that I can comprehend, but I would like to place guards around Chloe 24/7. She must be protected.”

Reid stepped forward, a snarl across his lips, “She is protected!”

Valentina raised her hands in defense but did not give in, “You aren’t around her all the time. Chloe goes to school, I’m sure she has friends, places she hangs out at. How are you supposed to protect her when she’s in class?”

“Let me guess,” Caleb’s eyes turned to the three teen Mai in the room, “You want your kids to protect her.”

Valentina smiled but said nothing, her silence saying everything.

Caleb turned to Chloe, “It’s up to you, Baby Girl.”

Chloe turned to look at Valentina, really for the first time that night, “Why am I so important to you?”

“You are the Uniter,” Valentina said simply.

“That doesn’t explain why you care so much. I’ve met with plenty of other packs, covens and prides and they never offered protectors. Why do you care so much?”

“…I always thought the Uniter would be Mai. Nine lives certainly sounds like a cat thing,” Valentina smiled, “I grew up with stories of the Uniter. I suppose you could say you were my bedtime fairytale. I also care deeply for your cause.”

Chloe nodded slowly, “Very well. I accept your offer of protection, provided they do not create any disturbances within my daily life.”

“Of course,” the older woman smiled before turning to Alek and Jasmine, “Go with them tonight. We will come up with some sort of schedule tomorrow,” She then turned to Mimi, “You aren’t my child so I can’t order you around, but I’m sure you’ll go where Alek goes.”

Chloe’s eyes automatically moved to meet Alek’s at Valentina’s words. They still had yet to discuss their kiss earlier.

The large pack of teens which just grew larger moved down the hall. Instead of taking the elevator, they opted to take the stairs, uninterested in squeezing even more people into such an enclosed space.

As they all exited the building they stared at the Escalade, “…This is never going to work,” Caleb sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

“If two of us girls sit on you guys’ laps, it should be okay,” Chloe offered.

Caleb looked hesitant, but Pogue spoke up, clapping his hand on Caleb’s shoulder, “I don’t think we really have a choice, man. We can’t exactly strap them to the roof.”

Reid, Chloe and Chase let out simultaneous snorts of amusement, “You know what I think?” Reid spoke up.

“No,” Caleb said immediately, lifting a hand to stop the conversation.

“Dude, you don’t even know what I was gonna say!” Reid growled angrily, getting in Caleb’s face.

Caleb started back, his jaw tensing angrily, “I don’t need to. Whatever it is, I’m sure it’s going to be a really bad idea!”

The other members of the Covenant sighed in exasperation, “They do this all the time,” Chloe explained to the Mai, “Like oil and water… well, more like oil and fire. Reid’s a bit of a hot head.”

“Chloe would want to!” Reid exploded.

Chloe turned back to the argument, having tuned out the minute she realized a fight was brewing, “What would I want to?”

“Go clubbing!” the blond turned to her, an arm sneaking around her waist to gently tug her toward him, “Don’t you wanna go party?” He asked seductively. Caleb rolled his eyes in annoyance behind Reid.

The strawberry blonde stopped to think about it for a second before turning to Caleb, “Well, it has been kind of a long day…”

“And you want to go home and sleep it off?” He asked hopefully, but sighed when Chloe made a face that basically read ‘not quite’. Caleb turned to the only ones who actually knew the city, “Know any good clubs?”


	8. Chapter 8

“Come on! Loosen up, Jasmine!” Chloe smiled as her body thrummed to the loud beat of Britney Spears’ [‘I Wanna Go’](http://www.vevo.com/watch/britney-spears/i-wanna-go/USZM21100086?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=watch&utm_campaign=britneyspears_iwannago). She let out a loud laugh as he body moved in synchronization with the entire club, “It’s a club, not a school dance! There should be no awkwardness!” Chloe yelled over the music.

“I’m just… not exactly dressed for clubbing,” Jasmine gestured down at her jeans and t-shirt.

“Sorry! Maybe we should have gone back to your place so you could change,” Chloe felt kinda bad. Jasmine did sort of stand out compared to all the other girls in the club. Even Chloe had ditched her jacket at the table the boys had gotten, leaving her in a skin tight, bright blue dress that screamed ‘clubbing’, “Next time, we’ll give more heads up!” She promised.

“Next time?” Jasmine wondered, “How often do you go out like this?” She asked as the song changed and the two girls made their way back to the table where a large group of boys sat.

As Chloe got closer she noticed a couple of club girls hitting on the boys. The minute she was seen, Chase sent her a look. Chloe’s lips twitched into a smirk as she sauntered up to the boy, “Hey, baby,” She cooed, sitting on his lap before kissing Chase passionately, thrusting her tongue into his mouth. They made out for a few seconds, but when Chloe peaked, she saw that the girl that had previously been flirting with him was gone. Separating, Chloe moved over to sit on a seat and snagged one of the many beers they’d ordered, acting like nothing happened. Chase did the same next to her. Both were quite used to making out with each other in order to get rid of unwanted pursuers.

Alek, Jasmine and Mimi all looked at Chloe with a raised eyebrow, “What?” She asked genuinely a little confused, “He wanted the chick gone. I helped get it done. Quick and easy,” She shrugged, taking a pull of beer and then turning to Jasmine, “And to answer your earlier question, we go out partying pretty often. We don’t get totally trashed like most people, but we go out all the time to relax. It’s not always a club. We just like to go out and do stuff together.”

“But it’s a school night,” Mimi spoke for the first time all night.

Chloe shrugged, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”

“I don’t know how much clearer I can be!” Pogue exploded on the other side of the table, “I’m not interested!” The girl he was talking to let out a deep gasp and ran away from them. Pogue just hit his head against the hard glass of the table.

“Jealous I saw Chloe coming back first?” Chase smirked taking a sip from his scotch.

“Yes!” Pogue groaned.

Chloe let out a carefree laugh, “Sorry, Pogue, but I tried being the slut who’s sleeping with all of you before, remember?” All of them winced in memory. Chloe had gone around kissing all of the boys to keep away female pursuers (and her own male pursuers) but all that did was make the women more insistent. Apparently, Chloe’s flaunting of her multiple relationships was breaking the boys’ hearts and they needed to find a better woman… such as whatever woman was hitting on them at that moment. When the boys still turned down the flirty women, they began to get angry and started trying to attack Chloe saying she was being a whore and hurting the boys and… well, things got bad.

“Do you guys wanna jet?” Chloe asked. They’d only been in the club for a little over an hour, but it was after 2am and she still had school in about five hours. The boys looked like they weren’t having fun anymore and she’d gotten some dancing in so she didn’t mind leaving early.

Caleb nodded and they all stood up to make their way to the bar. He quickly paid the tab and they left the loud club. “Who had had the least to drink?” He asked the group.

“A martini and half a beer,” Chloe admitted.

“Three beers,” Pogue spoke next.

“Same,” Reid said nodding.

“One,” Tyler admitted.

“A scotch,” Chase said.

Caleb handed the keys over to Tyler and climbed into the back seat. He himself had three and a half beers, the stress of the Mai negotiations weighing on him more than he’d realized. Like on the way to the club, Mimi sat on Alek’s lap and Chloe spread out on top of whatever boys sat in the back.

They made their way to the outskirts of the city. When they reached the main gate, Jasmine, Alek and Mimi’s eyebrows went up. Clearly the Covenant was doing alright for themselves financially. Tyler pulled into the garage and they all piled out of the car. The boys all went inside leaving Chloe with the task of helping the Mai.

“So, this is our house,” She said obviously, leading them into the kitchen, “I guess you guys will stay with me tonight?” She asked hesitantly. At receiving their nods she headed through the dining room and living room to the stairs.

“Nice room,” Jasmine complimented.

“Thanks,” Chloe smiled absentmindedly as she walked into her closet. She came out dressed in boxers and a tank top. She held similar outfits for Mimi and Jasmine to change into before going across the hall and borrowed a pair of sweats for Alek, “Do any of you guys wanna grab a shower now so we aren’t all running for it in the morning?” She asked. Mimi and Jasmine agreed and Mimi headed to shower first while Alek used Chloe closet to change, “There are extra toothbrushes under the sink,” she called out to Mimi through the bathroom door.

“You know, if you wanted to see me half naked, you could have asked,” Alek smirked as he walked back in.

Chloe stared at the blond in confusion before realizing what he meant, “Oh, sorry. Did you want a shirt?” She asked genuinely, “None of the guys sleep in shirts so I just assumed… I can get one for you,” She said standing up.

“Its fine,” Alek spoke, stopping her, “I don’t wear a shirt to sleep either. I was just teasing you.”

“Oh,” Chloe said simply, “Sorry. It’s late, I’m tired. I probably should have caught that,” She smiled.

“Chloe?” Jasmine asked from where she was sitting on the bed, “I have a question.”

“Shoot,” The strawberry blonde smiled before quickly Using to conjure up a second mattress next to her bed for Alek to sleep on. Alek sat down on his new bed and Chloe lazily sat down next to him.

“I thought the Covenant was supposed to be a family,” Jasmine started out hesitantly.

Chloe nodded, “We are.”

“But you kissed Chase,” the brunette pointed out.

Alek made a grossed out face as he realized what Jasmine was asking. “We’re not really related,” Chloe smiled, “We are five families bound to protect each other’s secrets. Sharing and keeping secrets makes people close. Imagine hundreds of years of this. Every generation, the oldest male is born with the power. They grow up together, they do everything together, they are brothers,” She explained, “I was adopted into the Covenant when I was a kid. I was born in Ukraine, but when the Order got word that the Uniter had been born, they began slaughtering non-humans, especially in places with a lot of children.” Alek’s jaw tightened. His parents had been the victim of one of those slaughters, “I was adopted by a really great human man who wanted to protect me from the Order, but unfortunately, he couldn’t protect me for long. When I was 6, he brought me to the Covenant and I’ve been with the boys ever since. They’re my family,” She laughed, “But they’re not my family. As you transition through that age, it’s natural for there to come a point where you wonder if your best friend could be more than just your best friend. I’ve dated all of my ‘brothers’,” She teased, “Well… except for Tyler.”

“Why not Tyler?” Jasmine asked, “He seemed… nice.”

Chloe exchanged a look with Alek. Was Jasmine blushing? Oooh, someone had a crush! “I was adopted by the Simms. Tyler really is like my brother. Although…” She trailed off.

“What?” Alek asked.

Chloe seemed hesitant to answer, “Tyler’s a bit older than I am. When I was adopted into the family, Tyler had a bit of a crush on me. I was too young to see him that way and by the time I was old enough, he was like my brother. But Tyler held onto that crush for a really long time,” Chloe saw the looks in her friends’ eyes, “I mean he’s over it now!” She hastened to reassure them, certain that Jasmine liked her brother.

“Shower’s free,” Mimi interrupted.

The minute Jasmine entered the bathroom, the air in the bedroom became tense. Feeling awkward, Chloe moved to sit in front of her vanity and began removing all of her make up.

Mimi looked down at Alek trying to figure out whether or not she was going to sleep with him on the bed or whether she was supposed to sleep with the other girls. Chloe’s bed was certainly big enough to fit all three of them. But Alek wasn’t looking at Mimi, preferring to watch Chloe go through her nightly moisturizing routine. Seeing her decision was already made, Mimi sat on Chloe’s bed.

Jasmine finished in the shower much quicker than Mimi making way for both Chloe and Alek to brush their teeth. As Chloe brushed, she couldn’t help but sneak a sideways glance at Alek just as he was sneaking a glance at her. Their eyes met for a moment before they both looked in the opposite direction. They took turns spitting into the sink and washing their mouths. She honestly couldn’t remember ever having done this with someone before. It felt so domestic.

All four went to sleep with the alarm set for 5.45am. That alarm blared to life way too soon for comfort and they all groggily got up.

“Morning,” Alek mumbled, which Jasmine and Mimi returned. Chloe on the other hand just grunted, stumbling to the bathroom to brush her teeth. After a quick minute, she returned to the bedroom to tell Alek he could use the shower first before changing into her work out clothes.

“Do you guys mind?” She asked the girls once Alek had locked himself into the bathroom, “I usually do a quick yoga routine in the morning.”

“Sure,” Jasmine smiled, “Mind if I join you?” She asked.

Chloe smiled, happy to meet another yoga fan, “Sure. Mimi?” The strawberry blonde asked the other girl, not wanting her to feel left out. Mimi nodded in agreement and they began following the vinyasa on Chloe’s DVD. They were just finishing up when Alek opened the bathroom door wrapped in nothing but a loose towel.

“Sorry, but I just realized I haven’t got anything to change into,” He smirked down at Chloe who was bent forward in a downward dog position, her butt in the air. Chloe too was checking him out (though she was upside down). Chloe got up and looked at him for a second, getting some raised eyebrows. Alek was about to make a smart remark about her checking him out when she spoke, “I think you’re more Caleb’s size than Reid or Pogue. I’ll go steal something of his,” She decided turning on her heel and walking out the door. She was back in a few minutes with a pair of jeans and a short sleeved t-shirt which Alek took to the bathroom to quickly change into.

Chloe meanwhile went to her closet to pick out an outfit for school. She opted for her [BCBGMAXAZRIA rose print sweetheart dress](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/0003bs8a) and her [Leighton](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/0003a9cz) shoes from LAMB. It was a little dressy, but nothing over the top. Exiting the closet, she saw that Alek was finished. She turned to Mimi and Jasmine who were still in their borrowed pajamas, “You guys can go ahead and raid my closet,” She smiled before entering the bathroom to shower and put her understated makeup on. This time she chose to dab a soft powder blue eyeshadow on her lids and lined her eyes with black eyeliner. Once again, she put on concealer and a nude lipstick and was finished. She exited her bathroom in her towel, paying no mind to the way Alek was eyeing her from where he was lounging on her bed.

Inside her closet, Jasmine and Mimi were still in their borrowed pajamas. “Is everything okay? Could you find stuff that fit?”

“Yeah,” Jasmine answered, “We just want to make sure you’re okay with us using them. Some of these clothes are really expensive and we wanted to make sure it was alright.” The clothes Jasmine chose weren’t her usual style but seeing all of Chloe’s outfits, she could tell that the strawberry blonde’s style was definitely sexy glamour. There was something about Chloe that made Jasmine feel pretty glamorous herself so she picked out an outfit she liked but probably wouldn’t wear normally.

Chloe shrugged easily, “I don’t mind. Go ahead,” She said as she slipped into her own clothes. When she turned around, Jasmine was wearing her Staring at Stars [loose stitch dress](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/00038prz) and Mimi was in her Angel Eye [floral dress](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/000391w8). Looking down, Chloe giggled. Mimi’s black flats from yesterday matched her outfit alright, but Jasmine’s sneakers did not, “What size shoe are you?” She asked.

“8” Jasmine answered as Chloe tugged her to the back where all of Chloe’s shoes were.

“Oh, good. We’re the same. Now, lets see…” Chloe perused her large shoe collection.

“Did you guys die in here?” Alek called out as he entered the closet. He took a look around at the massive amount of clothes, “Bloody hell, you have a lot of clothing.”

“Thanks!” Chloe yelled over her shoulder as she found the perfect pair of shoes for Jasmine to wear- her favorite pair of Velvet Angels: [Scenarium ](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/000376p0)in tan. Chloe had the style in all three of the colors it came in. Jasmine slipped them on and they were all ready to head to school.


	9. Chapter 9

Finally, they were all ready to leave for school. Chloe was halfway down the stairs before she stopped in realization, “Crap. My Audi’s only a two seater,” She turned to face the other three, “Gimme a sec. I gotta go steal Reid’s car keys,” She said bounding up the stairs again. In no time at all she was back and they continued to make their way to the garage. They had all gotten in late last night and hadn’t been very observant, but now they all admired the seven shining cars in the garage.

 

Chloe walked up to the Aston Martin and looked into the back of the convertible car, “Huh. Maybe I should have stolen Chase’s car instead,” She wondered out loud before looking up, “Is it okay if you’re a little squished? Alek should probably sit in the front since he’s the tallest… You know what? Never mind, I’m stealing Chase’s car. He can just deal.” Her eyes flashed with fire and the car keys that were in her hand disappeared, a different set reappearing, “Though the back seats are still a little squished, at least in the Mercedes you won’t be making out with your knees,” She smiled moving down the line of cars until the reached the second to last.

 

“Is that the new Mercedes CL65?” Alek asked in awe.

 

“Uhm, maybe?” Chloe answered unlocking the doors. She popped the front seat down so that Mimi could get in behind her while Alek did the same for Jasmine, “I don’t know anything about cars,” She admitted as she pulled out of the garage.

 

“Can I ask why you didn’t take one of the other cars? They all seemed like they’d have plenty of room,” Jasmine asked.

 

“Are you really cramped?” Chloe asked regretfully, sneaking a look behind her.

 

“No!” Jasmine shook her head, “Sorry, no, I’m fine. I just meant, it seemed like a big deal switching from Reid’s car to Chase’s.”

 

“Oh,” Chloe shrugged easily, “Well, I don’t like to drive big cars so I can’t take the Escalade which is the only other car I wouldn’t have needed permission for since it’s our shared car. I also couldn’t have taken Tyler’s Hummer for that reason, though he would never have let me. Dude loves his car a little too much; hates it when other people drive it and absolutely won’t let anyone else use it if he’s not there too. Caleb’s a little touchy about his car. He likes to be asked first, which is reasonable except Cay is really not a morning person. I mean I’m not a morning person, but he’s,” Chloe shuddered thinking about how Caleb could get, “Pogue has a motorcycle so that’s useless which left Reid and Chase. Reid said it was okay, but then I realized his car was too small. I didn’t ask Chase but he should be okay with it since I left him my car in exchange. I should still text him to let him know, though…” Chloe’s hand wandered to where she put her phone on the center consul and at the first red light began texting Chase so that he’d know she had his car when he woke up. She was in the middle of texting when the light turned green. She continued driving but after a few seconds she pulled up her knee and began using that to steer as she finished her text.

 

“Are you driving with your knee?” Alek asked incredulously.

 

“Little,” Chloe answered absentmindedly, sending her message. It wasn’t like her eyes were completely off the road and they were still on the outskirts of the city so there were only a handful of cars.

 

“Do you do that often?” Mimi asked skeptically from the back.

 

“Sometimes,” Chloe admitted, “Don’t worry. If we got into an accident, I could just Use. One time Caleb slammed into an 18-wheeler and his entire car was torn to shreds. If he’d been human, he definitely would’ve been dead, but he Used while crashing and put the car back together seconds after crashing. Really freaked the truck driver out,” Chloe laughed.

 

They got to school early. Once again, Chloe’s flashy car drew some looks, especially from those who realized it was a completely different car from the one she drove yesterday. She drew even more looks when Alek, Jasmine and Mimi also climbed out of her car, “Breakfast?” She asked, tilting her head to the café down the street.

 

The group made their way to the café. All four ordered a cup of coffee while Alek ordered a breakfast sandwich, Jasmine ordered a muffin and Mimi bought an apple. They wandered back down the street to the school before sitting on the steps to eat, “You really don’t want anything?” Jasmine asked, offering Chloe some of her muffin.

 

Chloe scrunched up her nose, “Not a breakfast person, but thanks.”

 

Alek finished first and began to once more play with Chloe’s hair like he had last night. Chloe raised an amused eyebrow but didn’t say anything. Maybe it was a Mai thing to be fascinated with her springy curls. Then again, it could just be a boy thing since she’d seen both Reid and Pogue entertaining themselves with the same past time of playing with her hair.

 

The silence was interrupted by Jasmine’s phone going off. She read the text quickly, “Chloe, my mom wants Alek and me to train you on how to defend yourself.”

 

“Like martial arts?” the girl asked curiously. When Jasmine nodded, Chloe smiled, “Cool. Sounds fun. After school?” She asked. She had cleared off the afternoon because she and Caleb had both expected the Mai negotiations to take a couple of days, but since they were finished early, she was free to do what ever she wanted today.

 

“I have basketball,” Alek stated tugging on a curl for emphasis.

 

Jasmine nodded, “I usually wait after school for him to finish.”

 

Chloe shrugged, “I’m cool waiting. Or maybe you can show me around San Francisco a little bit?” She asked Jasmine, “I’ve only been here a couple of days.”

 

Jasmine smiled widely, “Sure,” She agreed. She’d never really had a girlfriend before and Chloe was shaping up to become her first one. It was hard being friends with humans, knowing you couldn’t tell them the truth but she could be honest with Chloe and it was nice to finally have that with a friend.

 

“Chloe?” a voice was heard calling her name. Chloe looked up to see a surprised Amy and Paul holding hands on the steps next to her.

 

“Oh, hey!” Chloe smiled at her human friends, “Guys this is Amy and Paul, my friends. Amy, Paul this is Alek, Jasmine and Mimi. I think you guys know each other, right?”

 

“Yeah,” Amy replied hesitantly.

 

Alek stood up prompting the others to do the same. “I think it’s time for us to go,” He turned to face Chloe, “I’ll see you later.”

 

“See you after school,” Jasmine smiled, waving.

 

Chloe nodded and waved off the trio before turning to Amy and Paul who both looked hurt, “I thought you were busy after school today?” Amy asked, crossing her arms defensively.

 

“I was supposed to be, but the family stuff finished early so I’m free. It was weird because one of the people that my family is doing business with here in San Francisco is Jasmine’s mom. That’s why we were hanging out just now,” Chloe explained, “There was a huge meeting last night and while Caleb and Valentina were ironing out the details, I was hanging out with Jasmine, Alek and Mimi. They wound up spending the night.”

 

Paul easily accepted Chloe’s explanation, but Amy was still curious, “Who is Caleb and Valentina?”

 

”Caleb’s like my brother,” She hedged, “He’s the second oldest and sorta like our leader,” Chloe said in a teasing voice, trying to downplay the truth, “And Valentina is Jasmine’s mom.”

 

Finally Amy was satisfied, “Oh, okay. So what was is like hanging out with Alek Petrov?” She asked eagerly as they all walked into the school and headed to Chloe’s locker.

 

“I dunno,” the strawberry blonde looked at her friend oddly, “Fun, I guess.”

 

“Fun? That’s all you can give me? I’ve been waiting three years for him to look in my general direction!” the petite girl gushed, “You gotta give me more than that!”

 

“Don’t you guys have to go to your locker?” Chloe asked desperately.

 

“I have Computer Tech first and that’s on this floor,” Paul shrugged easily.

 

“Aren’t you annoyed with your girlfriend for gushing about another guy in front of you?” Chloe tried a different tactic.

 

Again Paul shrugged, “Like she said, she’s been obsessed for three years. I’m kinda used to it.” He just had the type of demeanor that said nothing fazed him. Chloe bet she could Use in front of him and he wouldn’t freak out; he’d just be curious about her powers.

 

Amy let out a gasp suddenly causing them to look at her, “Wait, he stayed the night at your place? Tell me everything! Does he snore? What does he sleep in?”

 

“Okay, now this conversation is going uncomfortable places,” Paul admitted, a creeped out look on his face.

 

“I agree,” Chloe made a weirded out face as she and Paul left Amy. Amy pouted before dashing to catch up with them. All three sat on the bottom of the stairs while they waited for their classes to start.

 

“Come on! You gotta give me something! You slept with Alek Petrov!” Amy shrieked gaining attention.

 

“Do you mind?” Chloe shushed the girl before looking around to see who had heard that. Unfortunately for her, it appeared to be everyone, “Look, he doesn’t snore. Now, stop asking!”

 

“But-!” Amy started.

 

“Amy,” Paul interrupted scoldingly causing the girl to stop. She pouted, but she stayed silent.

 

“Thank you,” Chloe let out a sigh of relief, happy that the inquisition was over.

 

For Chloe, the rest of the day passed by at a snail’s pace. The only relief she had were the classes she had with her friends, especially her study hall with Jasmine and weirdly enough Calculus, which Chloe hadn’t even noticed she shared with Alek until he winked at her from one of the front seats. She, Amy and Paul once again left school for lunch in the city. The whole time, Amy had been visibly restraining herself from asking more questions. Paul actually looked proud of his girlfriend.

 

The trio walked slowly back to the school, the restaurant they’d chosen was only a few blocks away. “So I was thinking…” Chloe started, still pondering her idea even as she said it. Amy and Paul turned to look at her expectantly, “Jasmine and I are going to hang out while we wait for Alek to finish at basketball practice… you should come,” She directed toward Amy, knowing Paul had Korean lessons and probably littlee interest in hanging out with three girls.

 

Amy looked at her, half excited, half weary, “Are you sure?” She asked.

 

Chloe nodded slowly, “I mean I’ll have to ask Jasmine since she’s going to show me around San Francisco, but I don’t see why she’d have a problem with it.”

 

“Thanks! I’d love to come,” The small brunette let out a huge grin, happy to be included.

 

The rest of the day dragged on a bit easier than the morning now that the end was in sight. Chloe was just storing the last of her books in her locker when she felt a presence behind her. She tensed slightly but relaxed when she smelled a familiar scent and felt someone’s hot breath on the back of her neck, “Hey, Alek.”

 

Alek swung around to lean next to her, watching her carefully as she moved her books around in her locker so that they’d be in the correct order for her to grab the next day. “So you slept with me, huh?” Alek asked with a smirk as he leaned down slightly, entering Chloe’s personal space.

 

Chloe rolled her eyes, ignoring the intrusion, “Blame Amy. I told her about how you guys slept over last night and all she got from the conversation was that you and I slept in the same room.”

 

“Hmmm,” Alek reached out to twirl a strand of her hair before quickly bringing his hand back before Chloe could look at him weirdly, “Maybe we should do that again sometime,” He suggested.

 

“Sure, I love sleepovers and your cousin looks hot in my gold dress,” Chloe purposely misinterpreted.

 

The blond made a grossed out face at the idea of Jasmine looking hot in anything, “Not what I meant,” He tried again, leaning even closer into Chloe’s space.

 

Suddenly, Chloe faced him, bringing them less than an inch away from each other. Chloe blinked slightly in surprise, not having realized he’d gotten so close before focusing on her words, “Look, you’re cute and that kiss was hot,” She paused as Alek gained an arrogant look on her face, “But Mimi clearly likes you in a more than friends with benefits way and I’m not looking to get into the middle of that. My job is to make peace,” She emphasized, closing her locker shut.

 

“Mimi and I are done,” Alek stated simply, throwing an arm out to block her from leaving.

 

Chloe looked up at him in impatience, “Really?” She asked skeptically.

 

“I don’t know if she heard the rumors or if she simply had eyes, but she broke things off with me today at lunch,” He explained.

 

This made the strawberry blonde pause. Alek took her hesitation as an opening and leant down to gently kiss her. Unlike their first kiss, this one was soft, gentle and relatively chaste, the way their first probably should have been. A throat cleared next to them causing them to separate. For a moment they just looked at each other, both surprised that they still felt that spark of electricity and that last night hadn’t been just a fluke. Simultaneously, they turned their heads to see who had interrupted them. Jasmine stood next to the duo, an amused look on her face and an expectant eyebrow raised. Amy stood next to her, her lips clamped shut so tightly they were white. Chloe could practically hear her internal squeal.

 

Alek cleared his throat a little uncomfortably before looking down at Chloe, “What are you doing tonight?” He asked softly, ignoring the other two girls.

 

“After… hanging with you and Jasmine?” Chloe asked subtly hinting at their training session, “Nothing. Why?”

 

Alek smiled down at her, “You’re going to want to wear more comfortable shoes.”

 

“Are you asking me out?” Chloe asked, ignoring his light jab at her heels. Alek merely smirked in response and began backing away from them, “Did you take Mimi out on dates?” She asked curiously, trying to figure out what Alek wanted from her.

 

Her question caused Alek to pause in thought and Amy and Jasmine to look at Chloe, surprised that she’d ask about his ex so easily, “Now that you mention it, no, I didn’t,” He turned to stare her in the eyes, “Telling, don’t you think?” He asked rhetorically as he walked away.

 

The second Alek disappeared down the hall Chloe felt two iron grips on her arms. She turned around to face two steely curious eyes, “Talk!” Jasmine and Amy both demanded in unison.


	10. Chapter 10

“Okay, I need a cup of coffee,” Chloe gasped out between bouts of laughter as the three girls stumbled almost drunkenly down the street, garnering strange looks, but that was okay because the girls’ laughter had been garnering them strange looks for about three city blocks now.

 

“This was so worth skipping 9th period choir for,” Amy gasped, “But yeah, I need a break,” she spoke as she tried to control her breathing, “I know a place. It’s just down the street.”

 

Amy led the two girls to an old bookstore coffee shop that connected to a vintage store next door. Chloe and Jasmine stood in line for coffee while Amy wandered over to look at the clothes.

 

“I don’t get how you do it,” Jasmine murmured softly to the strawberry blonde. When Chloe turned to her with a confused inquisitive face, Jasmine elaborated, “Be such good friends with a human.”

 

Chloe still looked at her puzzled, “What do you mean?” She replied just as softly.

 

“Don’t you feel bad having to hide everything? Don’t you worry that one day they’ll find out? Or that one day they won’t buy your crappy excuses and stop being your friend?” Jasmine looked at her oddly. These were things she thought about everyday and it was weird that Chloe didn’t.

 

“Not really,” The other girl shrugged, “It’s not like I’m lying exactly; I’m just keeping something secret. Everyone has secrets- that’s not a crime,” She reassured the Mai girl, “As for them finding out… I try and surround myself with good people. People who I hope would never treat me differently if they ever found out. As for them ditching me…” Chloe cocked her head thoughtfully, “I’ve never really had that problem. Granted, this is really the first time I’ve been friends with humans, but back in Ipswich I was really popular. No one’s ever ditched me before.”

 

“You’re lucky,” Jasmine said, slightly enviously. Their names were finally called and they got up and received their coffee.

 

“Why? Did that happen to you?” Chloe continued as they slowly walked over to the vintage shop to join Amy. They browsed through some overpriced clothes on the other side of the store so that Amy wouldn’t be able to hear what they were talking about.

 

“Once. When I was younger,” the other girl admitted hesitantly, “I was just a kid and I couldn’t explain why my mom wanted me to learn ancient Egyptian or why I knew martial arts.”

 

Chloe winced sympathetically, “I didn’t really have friends, but I had… I dunno, groupies? They only wanted to be my friend because of my popularity, money and connections. Anyway, growing up, we’re required to study the Books in order to learn our history and the basics of our magic. It got really hard explaining to our groupies why we couldn’t go to the mall or to the movies or out for ice cream with them. Finally, we got tired of having to make up excuses and so we just started saying that we had a ‘family thing’. At first they understood, but as we kept using it, I guess they started to realize it was less of a ‘family’ thing and more of a ‘you’re not invited’ thing. Slowly people stopped asking to hang with us and we just became this unit that everyone looked up to but no one could touch, ya know? Even though we had each other… it was pretty lonely.”

 

“At least you had each other,” Jasmine pointed out.

 

The other girl turned to look at her, “Alek only came to live with you a little while ago, right? There aren’t any other Mai your age around here?”

 

Jasmine shrugged, pulling at a purple shirt, “Not really. There are a couple in college and a few that were younger but Alek’s the only one my age. People get intimidated by my mom so it was just me growing up.”

 

Chloe put on a big smiled and wrapped an arm around the girl, “Well not anymore. Now you have Alek and me. And soon, I bet you’ll even have the boys,” she winked.

 

“Hey, what are you guys talking about?” Amy asked, coming over a new shopping bag in her hand.

 

“Nothin’,” Chloe said vaguely, “What did you buy? Anything good?”

 

Amy pulled out a slinky purple dress, “Paul’s taking me out to dinner this Friday.”

 

“Cute,” Chloe approved as something sparkly caught her eye. She wandered off from the other two girls toward the dress.

 

A low, male voice came from behind her, “It’s nice.”

 

Chloe turned around to see a tall brunet guy, “Yeah,” She agreed in disinterest before looking down at the price tag, “But not worth $400,” She said incredulously.

 

“Woah,” The guy looked surprised, “Good plan,” He grinned before holding out his hand, “I’m Brian Rezza.”

 

“…Rezza?” Chloe asked with faux lightness, keeping her real thoughts quiet as she shook his hand, “As in Whitley Rezza?”

 

Like turning off a light, the spark of charm in the boy’s eyes vanished, “Yeah. He’s my dad. I guess you’ve heard of him,” He said dully.

 

“Sorta. I heard he’s an ass,” She said crassly. It didn’t seem like Brian liked his dad, so she planned to use that to her advantage, “I’m Chloe Simms.”

 

“Nice to meet you,” Brian grinned widely, impressed with the girl who spoke her mind about her opinion and didn’t try to suck up to him because of his rich father, “Do you work here?” He asked.

 

“No, just taking a coffee break,” Chloe smiled flirtily.

 

Brian nodded, “So you like coffee. That’s good. I do too,” He offered slightly awkwardly, “How would you feel about grabbing a cup with me?” Chloe held up her still fully coffee cup, “I mean tomorrow. Say 3?” He asked hopefully.

 

“How about 3.45?” Chloe countered, “My school gets out at 3.30.”

 

“Great,” Brian grinned, “See you tomorrow.”

 

Chloe gave a small wave as he left the store. She felt Jasmine and Amy come up behind her.

 

“What was that about?” Amy asked in surprise, “I thought you were dating Alek.”

 

“I haven’t even been on one date with him. We’ve just kissed a couple of times,” Chloe explained.

 

Amy scoffed, “You have the hottest guy in school chasing after you and you’re still not satisfied? Craaazy!” She laughed heading out the store.

 

Chloe grabbed Jasmine’s hand, stopping the girl from following after Amy, “Did you recognize that guy’s name?” She asked.

 

“No,” Jasmine said slowly, “Should I have?”

 

“We have reason to believe Whitley Rezza is the leader of the San Franciscan faction of the Order,” Chloe told her seriously.

 

Jasmine looked surprised before her face grew solemn, “Chloe, you can’t go out with him tomorrow. You need to stay away from him.”

 

The strawberry blonde shook her head, “He doesn’t know who I am. This is the perfect opportunity to get intel on the Order! If I can get inside his family, inside his house…!”

 

“Chloe-“ Jasmine started.

 

“What are you guys still doing in here?” Amy asked, sticking her head through the door, “9th period is almost over.”

 

The trio of girls made their way back to school. Amy seemed to pick up on the heavy atmosphere because she didn’t try and make conversation, allowing the two supernatural girls to think. Amy waved goodbye as she got into her car and drove away, leaving the two girls on the school steps.

 

“I agree that this is a good opportunity,” Jasmine started, “But I don’t want you to be in danger.”

 

“I’m always in danger,” Chloe reminded the girl, “This is me helping to ensure that it won’t always be that way.”

 

Jasmine bit her lip lightly as she thought it over, “Okay, but you have to tell me whenever you meet up with him and you have to let me come along as back up.”

 

“I was going to ask you anyway,” Chloe grinned happy that Jasmine was going along with her plan.

 

“Ask you what?” A British voice interrupted from behind them.

 

Chloe opened her mouth to answer but Jasmine interrupted, “If I wanted to go shopping with her again tomorrow while we wait for you to finish up at practice.”

 

Chloe looked at her friend oddly. “Ah,” Alek said in understanding as all three moved toward the Mercedes. Once again, Jasmine sat in the back.

 

“Do you guys want to stop at your place to grab work out gear?” Chloe asked. When the two Mai nodded, she shifted directions. She drove to the apartment and waited in the car for them to return dressed in work out clothes and carrying three duffel bags. A half hour later they made it to her house. She ran up to her room to quickly change into a pair of Reid’s basketball shorts (which she rolled multiple times at the waist) and a tank top.

 

She met the two Mai out on her front lawn which was luckily far enough from the main road that no one could see, “So, what’s first?” She asked excitedly.

 

An hour and a half later, Chloe was no longer excited. In fact, she was so far from excited she couldn’t even remember what the feeling had been like, “Ugh,” she articulated as she lay in an exhausted heap on her front lawn. Jasmine and Alek leaned over to look at her in amusement, “Oh, good. You’re blocking the sun for me. I was really worried for a second because I really wanted to lift my hand to shield my eyes but my arm won’t move.”

 

“Clearly your mouth doesn’t have that problem,” Alek chuckled, throwing himself down beside her. He handed a water bottle for her to drink from, but she uncapped it and poured half of it on top of her.

 

“I hope you know that if you wanna go on that date, you’re gonna need to carry me,” Chloe groaned as her muscles protested even the lifting of the water bottle.

 

Jasmine smiled an amusement, “It wasn’t that bad.”

 

“I think I’d rather Use and die young… or, well, old,” Chloe said, a little confused.

 

“Come on,” Alek goaded, grabbing onto both her hands and heaving her up onto her feet, “We have a date to get to.”

 

“Do you mind if we borrow one of your bathrooms to shower and change?” Jasmine asked, picking up two of the duffel bags, handing the third to Alek who was still slowly dragging a stumbling Chloe toward the house.

 

Chloe nodded tiredly, “Yeah. Just knock on one of the doors and ask the boys. They shouldn’t care.”

 

Once Chloe made it to her bathroom she turned on the faucets for her Jacuzzi tub, needing the relief they’d provide her muscles. She collapsed into the tub and groaned loudly.

 

What felt like scant minutes but in actuality was probably much longer, she heard a knocking on her bathroom door, “Chloe, are you done yet?” Alek asked.

 

Sighing, she withdrew from the tub and dried off before pulling on her underwear and then her robe. She opened the door, becoming face to chest with Alek. She blinked in surprise before looking up to meet his equally surprised face. He moved to the side automatically to allow her to pass, his eyes trailing to where her robe opened slightly in the front, exposing the side of her breast and to the hem of the robe which exposed long, creamy white legs. Growing up with boys, four of which she’d dated, had left her completely used to walking around in states of undress and being slightly ogled for it. If that hadn’t done it, being a model sure would have made her accustomed to the sensation.

 

She made her way to her closet, not bothering to close the door, “Were you serious about comfy shoes?” She tossed over her shoulder, dropping her robe.

 

“Yes,” Alek purred much closer than she expected. She turned around to find him right in front of her leering down at her body.

 

“Huh,” She said easily, completely ignoring him. She turned to her clothes and picked out her ANM [v-neck lace border dress](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/00045axk), slipping it on over her head, wiggling slightly to get it over her bust and hips. Then she walked to the back and grabbed her [Bronx Crutis](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/00046fsc) ankle boots. Lastly, she grabbed her favorite black leather jacket and left her closet, turning off the lights, leaving Alek standing in the dark.

 

“Hey,” Chloe nodded to Jasmine who has just walked in as Chloe tossed her jacket onto the bed. She walked into the bathroom and applied light makeup. She put a light peach eyeshadow on and lined her eyes with black eyeliner. She put on concealer and some light blush before coating her lips with a nude lipstick. Her makeup was so light and natural, she truly looked like she wasn’t wearing any.

 

She returned to her room to find Alek lounging on her bed, “Ready,” She smiled, throwing her jacket on causing Alek to grin. They turned to look at Jasmine, “Do you want me to drop you off at your apartment or do you want to stay here and wait for us to come back?”

 

“Can you drop me off?” Jasmine asked, “My mom still hasn’t given Alek and me our schedules yet.”

 

“For Uniter duty?” Chloe laughed, “Sure, let’s go.” They made their way back down to the garage where Chloe once again stole Chase’s car, “I wonder if I need to just buy another car,” She mumbled to herself. She dropped Jasmine off before turning to look at Alek, “So, where to?” She asked.

 

Alek shrugged, “You can just park here.” Chloe blinked in surprise, but did as asked. They got out of the car and began to walk aimlessly. Alek struck up a completely random conversation that had Chloe in stitches within minutes. Soon they were teasing each other and playing spontaneous bouts of street tag. Finally, Chloe dragged him into an ice cream shop where they rested while enjoying an ice cream cone.

 

“So, what are your thoughts?” Alek asked after a brief silence.

 

“Pleasantly surprised,” Chloe smiled, blushing slightly, “This was really nice,” She admitted, sounding like she couldn’t even believe what she was saying, “And not at all what I expected.” Alek smiled genuinely for a moment before spontaneously leaning over to kiss her briefly before withdrawing. Chloe blinked rapidly. Once again, Alek had managed to catch her completely off guard, “You’re not what I expected at all,” She murmured so softly that Alek had to strain his Mai hearing to catch it. Alek hid a satisfied grin and grabbed her hand, leading her from the ice cream shop.


	11. Chapter 11

It was on the way back to the car that things went south. They were only a few blocks away from the apartment when they heard a familiar voice let out a scream.

 

“Amy?” Chloe asked even as her legs began running on instinct toward the sound. She vaguely heard Alek curse behind her, but was more concerned with her human friend. She made it to the alley a block over in time to see Amy being shoved to the ground near a hurt Paul, “Hey, ugly!” She called out to the brute that had hurt her friends, “Pick on someone your own size. Then again, I don’t think normal people come that large. You know steroids shrink your dick, right?” She distantly heard Alek make a choking sound from behind her that seemed like a cross between laughter and exasperation. To be fair, she had been channeling Reid just then, so whatever was coming out of her mouth really couldn’t be held against her.

 

“Get lost, girl,” the man growled out, taking a warning step toward her before he thought better of it, “Then again, I can just take your money too.”

 

Chloe rolled her eyes. Muggers. Great. Somehow, compared to Order assassins, muggers just didn’t seem to rank. Chloe rushed him. She could hear Alek swearing at her behind her, but was too busy to notice. Before she got to the burly guy, she kicked at one of the trash lids, sending it in the man’s direction. When the man ducked out of the way, Chloe used the opportunity to get up in his face and to kick him in the knee and punch him in the face. The guy stumbled back, mostly in surprise, but Chloe used the opening to her advantage and hooked her leg under his knee and forced them to buckle, taking the man to the ground hard. Chloe picked up a nearby brick and rammed him in the head with it, scraping the skin off half of his cheek and knocking him unconscious… or possibly killing him. Head injuries were tricky and Chloe had never done that before.

 

“I thought you didn’t know martial arts,” Alek asked incredulously from behind as he made his way to her.

 

“I do better in real life situations,” She responded honestly with a shrug, turning to help Amy and Paul off the ground, “Are you al-“ Chloe was cut off by the humans’ widening eyes at something behind her and Alek’s panicked shout of her name. Without thinking, she automatically let her eyes bleed black as she froze whatever it was that was behind her; most likely the guy she just beat up.

 

Turning, she found herself correct. The guy she had thought she’d knocked unconscious was in fact conscious and was holding the brick she had used against him ready in his hand to bash her head in. “You know, I was going to let you go…” She said almost regretfully, “But now I’m going to have to deal with you. There’s a reason why my family’s not known to be a forgiving bunch,” She smiled pityingly before placing her hands on the frozen man’s temple, her eyes looking deep into his own. Slowly, his eyes began to grow hazy but then suddenly he was screaming and twitching in pain. It was horrific to look at and it was made more horrific by the fact that no one could hear him; Chloe had silenced him when she had first frozen him.

 

Within a few seconds she was finished but it seemed like an eternity to those who had been watching. The man just sat there on the dirty alley floor, staring blankly ahead and drooling slightly. Then she turned to look at Amy and Paul and hmm-ed slightly, “Now, you. What am I going to do with you?” She asked herself.

 

“I vote nothing?” Paul asked hesitantly with Amy nodding vigorously beside him.

 

Chloe sighed, “Well, that’s not really up to me. It’s a family decision, you see,” She said, “Please come with us easily. I’d really hate to have to make you come. I really don’t want to hurt you,” She said remorsefully. Her words just made the other three teens look down at the man she had hurt.

 

“Not hurting us is good,” Paul whispered tightly, inching his way down the alley away from the disabled man.

 

The four teens made their way back to Alek’s apartment as Chloe texted her family the details and asked them to meet her there.

 

“Is that guy going to be alright?” Amy asked hesitantly, her hand clenching tightly onto her boyfriend’s arm.

 

Chloe hmm-ed as she hesitated on how to answer, “Why don’t you ask me that again after the verdict.”

 

“Verdict?” Paul asked worriedly, “Like a trial? We’re going to be put on trial?” He began hysterically.

 

“Not exactly a trial,” Chloe tried to reassure, aware that Alek was also very interested on what was going to happen, “Well, maybe a little bit. Think of it more like… a test?” She worded hesitantly, “You have to prove yourself to me and my brothers,” She put it simply.

 

“Why?” Amy asked as they entered the apartment building.

 

“How you do on the test will determine what we do with you,” Chloe explained as she pressed the 18 button.

 

“How do we pass?” Paul asked very seriously.

 

“What does it mean if we pass?” Amy asked instead.

 

“You pass by being good, loyal, honest and strong people,” Chloe smiled at her two maybe-friends, “If you pass, we’ll explain everything and you get to keep your memories provided you swear an oath to the Covenant.”

 

“Get to keep our memories?” Amy asked hysterically.

 

“What’s an oath to the Covenant?” Paul questioned instead, acting very calm. Chloe smiled to herself. Looks like she was right; Paul was the type of guy who was always calm in a situation.

 

“An oath is a magical contract swearing you will not betray the Covenant or our secrets to others,” Chloe explained, “And yes, ‘keep your memories’.”

 

“Chloe,” Alek finally spoke, “What exactly did you do to that guy?” He asked hesitantly.

 

“Something pretty horrible,” She admitted softly, looking slightly remorseful.

 

Together, they all stepped out of the elevator and Alek unlocked the front door to find the entire Covenant and Jasmine waiting for them in the living room.

 

“We ported,” Tyler explained softly at Chloe’s odd look.

 

Chloe nodded before gesturing for Amy and Paul to sit on the coffee table as the Covenant sat on the couches in front of them so that they faced each other. Alek joined Jasmine in standing behind the Covenant. They were beginning to worry about Amy and Paul’s safety.

 

“I, Chloe King-Simms, have convened this Covenant here today to discuss and determine the fate of these two humans,” Chloe stated formally, “I have brought this situation upon my brothers and thus will lead the inquisition. This formal trial of Amy DeLaurentis and Paul Kim now begins on 8.24pm on this third Tuesday of the ninth month, year 2011. I will now share my memories of the incident with my brothers,” She laid her hands into those of Caleb and Chase who both sat beside her which led a chain reaction of hand clasping that led all the way down to Pogue and Tyler. Chloe’s eyes flashed black for a brief minute before returning to their beautiful blue.

 

“8.26pm,” Caleb spoke, “I, Covenant Leader Caleb Danvers, formally recognize the transfer of memory and permit this trial to occur.”

 

Chloe nodded at Caleb before turning to face Pogue, “Pogue Perry, would you please begin the questioning.”

 

“8.27pm: the questioning begins,” Pogue said as he stood up and made his way to Amy who began to tremble as tears began to leak out of her eyes.

 

“Relax,” Chloe soothed, “He’s not going to hurt you. I told you, we just have to test you. No one is going to get hurt from this.”

 

“That guy in the alley would say differently,” Paul chimed in nervously.

 

“He deserved it,” She waved off, but her words helped settle Amy down long enough for Pogue to lightly touch her face and stare into her eyes. Paul recognized the stance as what happened to the man in the street but was unable to move, sitting frozen. “I’m sorry. I probably should have warned you. For the trial, you must be confined so that you don’t injure yourself or others,” Chloe explained kindly to Paul to calm him down, but Paul was already calming. Before, the man had been screaming and writhing in pain, but Amy seemed perfectly fine if a little dazed. In a few seconds, Pogue moved on to Paul and repeated the actions before returning to his seat.

 

“8.42pm: The questioning is completed,” Chloe spoke causing Amy, Paul, Alek and Jasmine to be confused. No questions had been asked… “8.42pm: Pogue Perry transfers memories of the questioning.” They all clasped hands as Pogue’s eyes blackened for a few minutes, “8.45pm: the questioning has been received. We will now break as we consider our thoughts on this matter. We will reconvene for further questioning and to complete the verdict in 30 minutes.”

 

“Wait, that’s it?” Alek asked incredulously as the Covenant stood up and began to move around, “What did you even do?”

 

Chloe sighed, “Do you remember how I told you that Pogue is good at reading minds?” She asked causing Alek and Jasmine’s eyes to widen in understanding.

 

“Wait, that guy just read my mind?” Paul asked in shock, “That’s so… cool!” He grinned causing everyone to look at him oddly.

 

“Is that what you did to that guy in the alley?” Alek asked causing Chloe to wince.

 

“Sorta. Remember what we said about how not every warlock can read minds? How it takes a combination of power and control?” Chloe asked. Seeing their nods, she turned to the kitchen to grab a glass of water and brought it back to the living room for everyone to see, “Pogue is like a straw, he goes in smoothly extracting what he needs while leaving everything else the same,” She illustrated by sucking out water and holding it inside the straw before putting it back, “I’m more like… a hammer.”

 

“A hammer?” Jasmine asked in confusion.

 

“Mmhmm,” Chloe nodded, her eyes flashing in fire quickly causing the glass to explode, eliciting screams and yelps of surprise from her audience, “I can get the job done, it’s just… a lot messier.” She Used once again to repair the glass and returned it to the kitchen, “It doesn’t matter how much control or power I have, every time I read someone’s mind, it…”

 

”Explodes?” Alek asked incredulously.

 

“Ehh,” Chloe hesitated, “I suppose it’s as good a word as any. I can’t gain a specific bit of information the way Pogue can. I get their whole life. And it burns them out until they’re left completely brain dead; a vegetable.” Amy looked positively sick, “It’s not like I do it to every person I meet off the street. He was going to take a brick to the back of my head! I’m not going to lose a life to some street thug!” Chloe explained, “There’s a reason people don’t mess with the Covenant. We’re not really ones for mercy.”

 

“Or forgiveness,” Tyler piped up as the boys began to move back to sit on the couch.

 

“9.13pm: the trial of Amy DeLaurentis and Paul Kim reconvene,” Chloe announced taking her own seat, “Any further questioning?”

 

“No,” came the unanimous answer.

 

“May we have a verdict?” Chloe asked, “Perry?”

 

“Aye.”

 

“Danvers?”

 

“Aye.”

 

“Collins?”

 

”Aye.”

 

“Garwin?”

 

”Aye.”

 

“Simms?”

 

“Aye.”

 

“5 ayes have the win. Verdict passed, this trial is closed,” Chloe smiled as Caleb used his powers to free Amy and Paul, “Congrats, we find you to be trustworthy individuals,” Chloe smiled, “What do you want to know?”


	12. Chapter 12

“So let me get this straight. You two are part of an ancient race hailing all the way from Egypt called the Mai. Mai are the children of Bastet, a goddess, making you guys half gods as well. Mai have cat like features such as claws and night vision and are incapable of dating humans due to an ancient curse. And there are other half god species out there,” Amy pointed to Jasmine and Alek who nodded at everything she said. Then she turned to Chloe. After the trial, Chloe brought everyone to her house where she explained everything, and she did mean everything. “You are a witch. You have access to something called the Power but every time you Use, you age because the Power wears the body down. You are part of a group called the Covenant which consists of five families bound to secrecy. On top of that, you are the prophesized Uniter born to bring all the races- both human and non-human- together under a rulership of peace. Am I leaving anything out?” She asked hysterically.

 

“Nope, I think that’s it,” Chloe replied easily from where she was lounging on her bed flipping through a magazine. Paul, Amy and Jasmine all sat cross legged on the floor while Alek sprawled next to her in bed.

 

“Oh, wait. You’re forgetting the Order,” Alek said absentmindedly as he unabashedly read through Chloe’s diary. Chloe didn’t seem to mind as she barely blinked when she noticed his reading material. It was probably because she stopped writing in it when she moved to San Francisco so it had nothing about Alek in it.

 

“Oh, right, can’t forget about those crazy assassins,” Amy said sarcastically.

 

“Do you have any idea how many years I’ve dreamt of the day in which I’d meet a superhero and be whisked away for some sort of secret initiation into the fold?” Paul asked in awe. Alek and Chloe simultaneously looked up from what they were reading to look at him oddly.

 

“That’s nice, dear,” Amy reached out to pat Paul’s leg. Sighing, Amy finally took a good look at where she was, “This is your room?” She asked incredulously, “It’s huge!”

 

“Thanks?” Chloe asked not sure if that was a compliment, “It’s late. Are you guys staying again?” She asked Jasmine and Alek who both nodded. They had brought a bunch of clothes in the duffel bags they’d brought to training earlier in anticipation of possibly needing to stay over again. Chloe turned to Amy and Paul questioningly.

 

“Sure!” Amy grinned as Paul nodded, “I just have to call the dads,” She stood up to make the phone call.

 

“You don’t have to call your parents?” Jasmine asked Paul who shrugged.

 

“My parents won’t even notice I’m gone,” He explained not noticing the awkwardness his words caused.

 

“Well, I’ll go see if I can’t wrangle up some clothes for you,” Chloe stared at Paul for a moment, “Tyler?” She thought aloud hesitantly. To be honest, none of the boys had the same build as Paul. She left the room and came back with two sets of sweats, “For school tomorrow,” She explained, “Also, Tyler says you can use his bathroom if you need to.” Paul nodded and headed out the door, pausing to pop his head back in for a moment, “It’s the next door to our left,” Chloe muttered without looking up from where she was digging out pajamas for Amy and herself.

 

“I think I’ll shower tomorrow since I already showered after training,” Jasmine said as she handed back the dresses she and Mimi borrowed.

 

“Sure,” Chloe shrugged easily, “Alek can use Tyler’s bathroom tomorrow. He’s a morning person so he should be up… the freak,” She muttered, “Plus it’s their first day of college. Who starts classes in the middle of the week?” she asked rhetorically.

 

“Where do they go to school?” Jasmine asked in confusion. San Francisco State had been running for almost two weeks now.

 

“Stanford,” Chloe answered, “That reminds me… CHASE!” She yelled loudly startling everyone, especially Amy who just got back in from talking to her parents.

 

“WHAT?” came Chase’s muffled response from his room across the hall.

 

“DID YOU PAY YOUR TUITION BILL?” she asked.

 

“YES,” He replied.

 

Chloe nodded as she removed her makeup and began her nightly cleansing ritual, “I brought you out some pajamas,” She told Amy as she looked at the girl through the mirror, “Jasmine and I are going to shower in the morning if you want to shower tonight so we don’t end up all needing to go at once. Paul’s showering in Tyler’s room.”

 

Amy nodded and grabbed her clothes and made her way to the bathroom. She blushed slightly at the idea that she’d be showering when her 3 year crush was in the room, but her face fell in disappointment as she realized he wasn’t even looking at her, instead staring at Chloe who was walking into the closet to change.

 

Once again, at 5.45 the next morning Chloe, Jasmine and Alek woke up. They tried to prod a sleepy Amy and Paul up but the two refused to be moved. Chloe set her yoga DVD on silent and this time Alek joined her and Jasmine was the one who grabbed a shower first. After half an hour of intense stretching, Alek made his way to Tyler’s bathroom as Jasmine finished. She came out wearing a [Coup lace up front top and olive green shorts](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/0003cs83).

 

“Can you wake them up in 15 minutes?” Chloe asked the other girl as she walked into the bathroom to complete her own routine. She stepped out twenty minutes later to see everyone awake and moving around her room. Chloe walked to her closet, motioning for Amy to follow her.

 

“Wow,” Amy gaped at the racks of clothing.

 

“Pick what you want,” Chloe told her absentmindedly, perusing her own selection.

 

“She’s got a lot of really great clothes,” Jasmine smiled as she wandered in, looking through all of the different dresses and outfits, “I wish I had the confidence to wear some of these things!” She laughed as she pulled out a [blue top](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/0003gksg) that was almost completely backless.

 

Chloe turned to look at her, “You are confident enough. You are Mai. You are the next leader of the San Franciscan Pride. You can’t let a little skin intimidate you! Be risqué,” Chloe smiled shoving the blue Pins and Needles chiffon tie-back top Jasmine was admiring into her hands, “Have it. You need to update your wardrobe. Live dangerously,” She winked.

 

“I can’t accept this,” Jasmine protested, trying to hand it back, “Besides, my mom would kill me.”

 

“You’re 18,” Chloe moved her hands so that Jasmine couldn’t give it to her.

 

“Chloe,” Jasmine replied seriously.

 

“We’re gonna be late for school if I don’t pick something out to wear,” Chloe turned back to her clothing, completely ignoring Jasmine, “Well, since we’re in a backless mood today,” She murmured to herself, picking out her [open back jersey dress](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/0003e0gg) from byCorpus. She made the girly dress more casual and laid back by throwing on some Rocketdog [Ramp Up](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/0003fdqc) cowboy boots.

 

“This is cute,” Amy said as she ran her fingers along a [ruffled dress](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/0003d0xr), still trying to decide what to wear. She checked the tag and gasped, letting go of the dress, “Its Dior!”

 

“Do you want to wear it?” Chloe asked a little impatiently, “I have the matching boots.”

 

“It’s Dior!” Amy repeated.

 

“Yes,” the strawberry spoke slowly, “Do. You. Want. To. Wear. It?”

 

Amy shook her head frantically, “I can’t wear something like this. And to school?”

 

Chloe sighed and shoved the dress into the girls’ hands. She was really getting tired of this. Both she and Jasmine seemed to have a problem accepting clothes from her closet, “Put it on. What size she do you wear?”

 

“7.5” Amy answered dazedly as she stared at the beautiful material in her hands.

 

“I’m a size 8. That should be okay,” Chloe said as she went to go grab the matching shoes, “Hurry up. Alek’s probably already killed Paul and we’re getting late.”

 

“I’m wearing Dior,” Amy said, still in shock as both Chloe and Jasmine dragged the girl out of the closet.

 

“Let’s go,” Chloe said checking the time on her phone, “We’re late.” They trampled down the stairs and into the kitchen. Food was laid out on the table and there were five boys in various stages of undress munching on it, “Who cooked?” She asked as she grabbed Caleb’s coffee cup out of his hands to take a sip.

 

“Reid,” He grunted out, eyes still extremely bleary. Caleb was not a morning person.

 

“It’s safe to consume,” She smiled at her friends, “Grab a plate if you want. You can eat in the car.” She leaned over Reid to steal a bite of his eggs, “Thanks, babe.” She planted a kiss on his cheek, “Ready?” She asked the other teens. Amy had just grabbed a slice of toast and a napkin whereas Jasmine, Paul and Alek all had plates of eggs, bacon and toast. “Good luck on your first day!” She tossed at the boys as they headed into the garage.

 

“Oh, boy, not again,” Chloe sighed as she took in the number of people she had to drive and the amount of seating in the cars. She trooped back into the kitchen, “What cars are you guys taking?” She asked the guys.

 

“You can use the Escalade,” Pogue told her, “It’s supposed to be nice out, so I’ll use the bike.”

 

“Thanks!” She yelled as she quickly returned to her friends. She grabbed the Escalade’s keys off the door. Since it was the shared car, the keys were in the garage so anyone could use it, “Let’s go!” She rushed into the vehicle and began speeding down the street. They were 10 minutes late. “I hate driving this thing,” She muttered under her breath before taking a side glance at Alek who was still eating breakfast, “So is it good? Reid’s food usually is.”

 

“It’s awesome,” Paul said from behind her.

 

“I gotta admit, I’m a little surprised,” Jasmine commented, “Reid doesn’t seem like the type to cook.”

 

Chloe let out a laugh, “You’re not wrong. I honestly have no idea where he learned to cook. Probably from his mother though God knows how she got him to sit down long enough to teach him. He, Pogue and I are the only ones who know how to cook. Pogue is an okay cook. He lives by himself so he only learned so that he wouldn’t starve.”

 

They barely made it to school on time. They yelled their goodbyes as they separated in the halls, each running in different directions. When Chloe rushed to her seat in AP Lit, she became aware of the whispers going on around her. Feeling paranoid, she shifted, but she couldn’t help but feel like they were talking about her. It was a relief to escape that class and head to her 2nd period free block with Paul.

 

“Have you heard what people are saying about you?” Paul asked as he sat down next to her.

 

“What?” Chloe said, “No. What happened?”

 

”Apparently a bunch of people saw you kiss Alek yesterday. I didn’t even know you two were dating. Anyway, they say you seduced Alek from Mimi and that you’re using your money and extensive car collection to keep him with you,” Paul explained.

 

“That is the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard in my life,” Chloe sighed. Private school or public school, people still loved to gossip.

 

“So you and Alek aren’t going out?” Paul clarified.

 

Chloe rolled her eyes, “We’ve been on one date… which was sort of interrupted by you and Amy and your little… situation yesterday.”

 

Paul accepted her words and the rest of study hall was spent in silence. Chloe yawned her way through Physics and collapsed in her seat for her second study hall.

 

“Good, you’re here. I really need to talk to you,” Jasmine gasped out as she sat down across from Chloe, “Alek should be here in a second so I just wanted to talk about your coffee date with Brian. I’ll meet you at your locker and we can go in separately so that it won’t seem like we know each other. Don’t go anywhere with him, okay? Stay in the shop.”

 

“Okay,” Chloe agreed easily, “Why did you stop me from telling Alek yesterday?” She asked.

 

“I know Alek. He really likes you and if he found out you’re going out with another guy, he’d flip. If he found out you were going out with an Order guy, he’d doubly flip. I don’t think we should tell him until we find out whether or not we can actually get info from this Brian guy. But you have to tell me in advance when you’re going to meet up with him so that I can make sure it will be my shift and not Alek’s.”

 

Chloe pondered Jasmine’s words before agreeing to them. She knew Alek best and if she thought it wasn’t a good idea to tell him yet then she’d take her word for it.


	13. Chapter 13

“Hey,” Alek spoke sexily, sneaking up behind Chloe causing the girl to turn around.

 

“Hey back,” She smiled at him fondly.

 

“So, I was thinking,” He started, purposefully ignoring the slightly weary look his words caused, “Our date was sort of interrupted yesterday.”

 

Chloe tilted her head in thought, “I thought our date was done and you were just walking me to my car… which just happened to be parked in front of your apartment.”

 

Alek paused, thinking about how to respond, “True. However, the subsequent rescuing kind of detracted from the overall quality of the date. I would like to make it up to you.”

 

The strawberry blonde smiled, before reaching out a hand to clasp his forearm. She looked at him seriously, “Alek. If you want a second date, you could just ask.”

 

Alek let out a brilliant grin, “Great. See you after practice,” He said walking away, not letting her respond to his words.

 

“What was that?” Jasmine asked as she walked up to Chloe, the two heading out to meet Brian.

 

“Your cousin’s version of asking me out on a second date,” Chloe responded. At Jasmine’s odd look, she elaborated, “There was less asking and more telling,” she smiled however, illustrating that she didn’t mind Alek’s cockiness.

 

“So, what’s the plan?” Jasmine asked as they reached the block where the coffee shop was located.

 

“Well, he didn’t ask for a date, so I’m going to go at this like it’s just a friendly coffee. I’m definitely going for the friend vibe here. If I can get information without having to date him, then that would be the best. I’d rather not test out how loyal I am to the cause.” When Jasmine gave her a questioning look, Chloe expanded, “I don’t want to sleep with the guy in order to get more information about the Order from him. Hopefully, he knows nothing about the Order and what his dad is up to and hopefully, he’s cool just being my friend and hopefully, he’ll want to bring his friend over to his house where he will hopefully get distracted, allowing me ample snooping time.”

 

“That’s… a lot of ‘hopefully’s.” Jasmine said a little uneasily. In her experience, nothing ever worked out according to plan.

 

Chloe seemed to know what she was thinking because she gave the girl a worried look, “I know.”  
~  
Chloe breezed into the coffee shop with a soft smile on her face, her eyes instantly locking with Brian’s. She forced her soft smile to grow wider as she walked over to him and took a seat, “Hey,” She greeted easily.

 

“Hey,” He grinned back. He looked down and began fiddling with his coffee cup, “I already ordered myself a cup. I hope you don’t mind. I’ve sorta been here a while.”

 

Chloe shrugged easily, “I don’t mind. A guy needs his coffee,” She joked, “I’ll just go up and order something then.”

 

A few minutes later she came back with a coffee cup and a blueberry scone. The silence grew heavy and awkward as she nibbled on her food. This wasn’t good. She needed to befriend the boy! “So, tell me about yourself, Brian. Convince me I didn’t agree to grab a cup of coffee with a deranged psycho killer.”

 

Brian let out a laugh at her words, prompting a smile from the girl. Not only was he relaxed, but he didn’t react to her words. Maybe he really didn’t know anything about the Order. Her ‘hopefully’s were looking more and more possible.

 

They spent the next 45 minutes talking and laughing. Chloe actually found herself liking the guy. If his father wasn’t a creepy, racist killer, she might have even gone so far as to call Brian a friend.

 

“I have to get going,” Chloe said regretfully, standing up.

 

Brian also stood, “Okay. Maybe we can do this again sometime?” He asked with a little hesitation.

 

Chloe grinned widely, “Sure. I’d really like that. Since I just moved to San Francisco, it would be nice to have a friend.”

 

Brian blinked slightly at her words which made Chloe realize this was the first time she’d pulled out the friend card in the conversation. “Yeah, it’s great to have a friend here too,” was all he said.

 

Giving him one last smile, Chloe walked out of the coffee shop and headed down the block where she waited for Jasmine to catch up. “Thoughts?” She asked.

 

“I don’t think he has a clue,” Jasmine admitted as they headed back to the school, “He didn’t react when you called him a psycho killer and… I don’t know. He seemed…”

 

“Nice?” Chloe offered with an ironic smile, “Why are all the good ones gay or deranged psycho killers?”

 

Jasmine looked at Chloe suspiciously, reaching a hand out to grab her arm and stop both of them in the middle of the sidewalk, “You don’t… like him, do you?” Chloe looked away slightly, “Chloe!” Jasmine yelled in exasperation.

 

“I feel bad for him, that’s all,” Chloe defended as they resumed walking, “He clearly doesn’t like his dad and I can understand why. But he’s new here and so am I and I don’t know… he seemed nice. That’s all I’m saying.”

 

“You can’t let your feelings into this, Chloe. You’re using him,” Jasmine shook her head as Chloe began to protest, “You are using him. If you let your feelings into this… if you begin to see him as more than just a mark… someone’s going to get hurt.”

 

Chloe let out a self-deprecating sigh, “Well, this is cheery.”

 

“What is?” A British voice asked them causing the two girls to look up as Alek walked through the main doors followed by Amy and Paul. They bounded down the stairs, “No bags?” Alek asked.

 

“What?” Chloe looked at him in confusion as he walked up to her and slung an arm around her shoulders. She looked at him a little oddly but didn’t dislodge the appendage.

 

“He means from shopping,” Jasmine said to Chloe, reminding the girl of their lie, “No. We didn’t end up finding anything we liked so we went for coffee instead.”

 

“Lucky,” Amy scowled, “I went through that song for choir so many times, I now hate it. No one mention Adele to me. Ever!” She let out a deep breath which seemed to calm her, “Now, let’s go get my car from where we left it yesterday and then we can spend the whole day hanging out.”

 

“Wait, what?” Alek asked, looking down at Chloe.

 

“You left so suddenly, I didn’t get a chance to tell you that I made plans with Amy and Paul for after school. You and Jasmine are welcome to come with,” Chloe explained faux innocently, smiling at Alek’s scowl. He was not happy that his date plans with Chloe were ruined. Finding his scowl adorable, Chloe stood on her toes to plant a kiss on his cheek. By the time he looked down at her however, she was already gone, heading toward the Escalade.

 

Chloe had navigated her way to Amy’s car and then began leading the second car to her house. They were about ten minutes away when Chloe pulled into a grocery store. “Sorry,” She said as everyone piled out of the two cars, “I have like no food at home and there’s probably even less now since Reid cooked breakfast this morning.”

 

The five teenagers entered the store, garnering a few odd looks. Chloe sent out a text to the boys asking them if they wanted her to pick anything up for them. As she walked down the isle picking fruits, vegetables and other things up, she noticed Amy and Alek picking a few foods out, “You can just add it to my cart,” She said in amusement.

 

“I couldn’t do that,” Amy shook her head, “It’s my stuff. I’ll pay for it.”

 

“I meant that you didn’t have to carry them since I have a perfectly good cart,” Chloe smiled, “But it’s not like a box of Twizzlers is gonna leave me broke. You have seen my house, right?”

 

Alek easily put his box inside the cart. He, like Chloe, had no problems with money and also had no problem with her paying for his package of M&Ms. He knew he’d end up paying her back sometime. Amy also put her box in as they reached the end of the isle. Suddenly, Chloe’s phone began buzzing like crazy as all of the boys answered at once, “Jasmine, can you go back and grab a box of strawberry poptarts, please,” Chloe asked, not wanting to maneuver the cart around to go back. When Jasmine put the box inside, Chloe checked off Tyler’s name on her mental list. Next came Caleb who wanted cheddar and sour cream potato chips and Reid who, unsurprisingly, wanted more beer.

 

Chloe walked down the last isle and picked up the items the boys’ asked for in addition to normal Wavy potato chips, On the Border tortilla chips and spicy cheese dip. She also picked up one of her favorite drinks, Mike’s hard lemonade. “Chloe?” Amy asked, “How do you expect to buy that without getting carded?”

 

Chloe looked at her friend oddly before realizing that they were all staring at her the same way, wanting to know the answer too. “Witch, remember?” She asked in amusement, pointing at her own face. She grinned when she saw them all nod in understanding.

 

“So you’re gonna like hypnotize the guy into thinking you’re 21?” Paul asked in excitement.

 

“Well, I could…” Chloe looked at the Korean boy oddly, “But mostly, we just use the fake ID we made in like the 8th grade.”

 

“Oh.” The boy said, clearly let down.

 

Chloe made her way to the frozen food isle and got a few frozen meals for those of the brothers who couldn’t cook if needed and some extremely spicy buffalo chicken strips, which Tyler also specifically requested. Then lastly, she picked up 3 cartons of Friendly’s Xtreme Mint Cookie Collision.

 

“And I thought Jasmine liked ice cream,” Alek teased earning himself a punch in the arm from the aforementioned girl.

 

“One’s for me, one’s for Chase and the last one’s for everyone else,” Chloe explained, “Chase and I are addicted to this flavor.”

 

“I can see why,” Jasmine drooled, picking up a fourth container and adding it to the cart for herself.

 

She paid at the counter and completely ignored Amy and Jasmine’s attempts at handing her money. She walked to the car and began loading things into her SUV. She spotted a store across the street and, without saying a word, went over. By the time the others caught up with her, she was already ordering 2 dozen donuts in an assortment of flavors. “You guys want anything specific?” She asked, but when they shook her head, she continued listing off what she wanted, which was basically whatever looked good. She also packed those into her car, after asking whether or not any of the others wanted any. Alek and Paul were the only ones who took her up on her offer and she herself snagged a Boston Cream which she ate as she drove home.


	14. Chapter 14

Chloe has parked the Escalade out front, not wanting to leave Amy’s car alone outside. She wasn’t sure if that made sense, but it seemed like the nice thing to do. Everyone held two grocery bags in their hands (except for Paul, who was carrying the donuts) and they all trooped into the kitchen where Chloe began putting things away. With the fridge and cupboard doors wide open, the others could see that she wasn’t exaggerating about the lack of food.

 

It was just as Chloe was quickly finishing up that they heard the hum of a car and the garage door opening up. Suddenly, a girlish shriek was heard. The teens all turned to look at the kitchen door that led to the garage. Said door violently swung open and a half dressed girl ran from the garage, a t-shirt clutched to naked chest. Seeing even more people, the girl turned even redder and made her way out the front door.

 

Voices caused the teens’ heads to swing back to the garage door where a naked Reid walked nonchalantly into the kitchen followed by an annoyed Tyler, “You can’t seriously be mad at me for this.”

 

Reid opened the fridge and grabbed a few bottles of beer, seeming not to care about his nudity, despite the teens’ shocked eyes and Amy and Jasmine’s red faces. His eyes flashed with fire as he Used to undo the beer bottle, “I was about to get laid. You interrupted. Now, I’m not getting laid. Yeah, I consider that your fault,” Reid responded before taking a sip. He used his other hand to offer one to Chloe and Tyler.

 

Tyler also Used to open his beer and took a sip, “Why were you even in the garage anyway. Did you get lost on the way to your bedroom,” He asked mockingly, earning himself a punch on the arm from the blond.

 

“No. Girls like cars. It gets them… riled up,” Reid smirked, finally acknowledging they had guests by leering at Jasmine and Amy as he spoke. He turned to face Chloe, “Don’t they?”

 

“Oh, yeah,” Chloe nodded seriously, “Gets me all hot and bothered.”

 

Reid grinned and leaned down to kiss her cheek, “Oh, I bet it does,” He whispered huskily, sneaking an arm around her waist and bringing her up against his nude body, “I could help with that,” His hand drifted lower to gently play with her hip. He was aware of the glare Alek was sending his way and it just made the moment sweeter.

 

Chloe turned slightly, opening her mouth to say something when they heard a set of footsteps coming from the garage. Caleb walked in, a confused look on his face, “Why’s your bra in the garage, Chlo?” He asked, a black lace bra hanging from his fingertips.

 

Chloe and Tyler simultaneously choked on a laugh, “Not mine,” She said, holding her hands up as she slowly backed outta the kitchen.

 

“Then who… Reid!” Caleb shouted, clarity coming to him easily, especially once he realized Reid was naked, “How many times do I have to tell you…!”

 

Chloe grabbed Alek’s wrist and dragged him to the living room with everyone but Reid and Caleb following, “Trust me, you do not want to listen to one of Caleb’s lectures if you can help it. And its Reid, so it’s gonna be twice the lecture and it will probably end in violence and bloodshed.”

 

“Someone mention bloodshed?” Chase asked as he walked down the stairs.

 

“Caleb and Reid are at it again,” Tyler explained as he settled into the left side of the couch. The living room housed two oversized black leather sectionals which were placed together to make one large couch in the shape of half a square. At the center was a large, clear coffee table. They looked up to the biggest flat screen tv they’d ever seen.

 

“How big is-“ Paul started to ask.

 

“103 inches,” Chloe responded as Tyler began flipping through netflix.

 

Pogue came in from the kitchen, having just arrived home, “Are Caleb and Reid fighting about Reid being a man whore again or have their fights just gotten kinkier?”

 

Tyler almost spewed the sip of beer he’d just taken as he struggled to contain his laughter. Chloe and Chase had no such problem. “The latter, definitely,” Chloe struggled to put on a serious face, “I dare you to go in there and tell them to take it to the bedroom because no one wants to see their version of foreplay.”

 

This set the boys off into more raucous laughter, “I’m not suicidal,” Pogue responded with a wide grin. Their laughter was cut off by a large crash as something broke in the kitchen. Everyone turned to look and quickly realized that the fight was spiraling out of control, both Reid and Caleb’s eyes bleeding black.

 

“Why don’t we go up to my room,” Chloe suggested, herding her friends up the stairs quickly while her brothers tried to calm the two fighting down. Chloe handed her beer to Alek as she went into her closet and began pulling clothes out and inspecting them. Soon she began making two piles.

 

“What are you doing?” Jasmine asked, sitting on the small sofa Chloe had beside her shoes.

 

“Picking out clothes to give to you and Amy,” Chloe responded casually.

 

“What?” Jasmine asked in surprise, Amy looking confused beside her.

 

“Don’t think I didn’t notice you putting that top back after I told you it was yours this morning,” Chloe scolded, “So now, I’m raiding my closet and giving you both clothes. You will take them and you will wear them and you will like it!” She said as she tossed another top into the growing pile, “Jasmine, you need to learn to be a bit more risqué. Be daring. Be bold. Be totally kickass.” Chloe threw a dress into the pile, “I like your firly-feminine style, Amy, but I think you could use a bit of color. Also, I’d feel bad just giving Jasmine a clothing makeover.” Another dress went into the second pile. After several long minutes of this, Alek, Paul and the rest of the Covenant wandered in. Apparently everyone was done fighting and Reid was once again clothed.

 

“What’s going on?” Reid asked in curiosity as Chloe looked at an orange dress.

 

“I’m giving Jasmine a mullet,” Chloe answered, preoccupied.

 

“A mullet?” Jasmine asked in confusion from where she sat. She had tried to protest once but Chloe had yelled at her and when she tried to go look at the pile of clothes, Chloe had yelled at her again.

 

“I get it,” Reid smirked as he toyed with one of the holes in the dress.

 

Chloe held up the orange dress to Jasmine and the others as an example, “Business in the front,” She said motioning to the plain orange dress, “Party in the back,” She said, flipping it do everyone could see the large criss-crossed bow in the back, leaving the rest of the back bare, “Jasmine needs something that looks conservative, but really isn’t. Something with a little bit of interest, a bit of pizzazz.” She scooped up one of the piles and began handing clothing to the girl, starting with the orange dress, “Sparkle & Fade knit bow back dress, Matthew Williamson’s beige mini, Naeem Khan’s formal black and white dress, Naeem Khan’s red print design dress, the Pins and Needles chiffon tie-back top you refused this morning, Ringspun’s necklace detail t-shirt, my white, black and gold shoulderless mini, Sparkle & Fade’s colorblocking dress, the Staring at Stars’ loose stitch dress you borrowed yesterday, Ecote’s pop embellished shirt dress, Sparkle & Fade’s strapless lace dress, Staring at Stars’ strapless Navajo dress and lastly, Vila’s lace overlay 20s dress.” Jasmine looked overwhelmed as the weight of the clothes weighed her arms down. She opened her mouth to protest but Chloe was already scooping up the second pile and moving to Amy.

 

“We’ll start with what you’re wearing: my red Dior ruffle dress. Then we’ll add this Kimchi Blue starlet strapless dress, this pink Alberta Ferretti dress, my Pins and Needles pleated chiffon dress, Piplette by Alice Ritter agate dress and a Thistlepearl Tulle dress. It’s not as much as Jasmine, I know, but to be fair, you seem to be pretty confident in what you wear. If you want, you can pick out something more-“ Chloe started.

 

”No!” Amy shouted, “That’s okay. You really don’t have to give me these,” She protested even as she hugged the clothing closer.

 

“It’s not a big deal. I don’t really wear them, anyway. Some of them, I really liked until I put it on and I realized it clashed with my hair or made me look short or something. Some I just got for free. Like your dress,” She nodded to Amy.

 

“You got a Dior dress for free?” the girl asked incredulously, “How?”

 

“I modeled in it,” The strawberry blonde shrugged.

 

“You’re a model?” Alek asked making The Covenant pause.

 

“Did that… not come up?” Chloe asked as she thought back to the previous few days, “Huh. Guess not. My real name is Chloe King. Yes, as in that Chloe King,” She said before anyone could ask, used to people asking, “I really wonder how this never came up. I know I tried to wear a bit of a disguise but all I really did was stick a few fake highlights in my hair and use neutral makeup,” She illustrated by removing the fake blonde hair clips, “And when we went clubbing, I looked like myself.”

 

“Well, to be fair, everyone thinks you’re in school in Massachusetts. No one recognized you because no one expects you here,” Caleb pointed out, “Plus that club was pitch dark on the dance floor and we had a private booth.”

 

“Plus you’re a lot shorter in person,” Amy added, still in shock, “I mean, no offense!” She back tracked.

 

Chloe waved it off, “It’s true. People always expect me to be like 5’10. I’m only 5’7 which is hardly model height. But I was tall as a kid and I had connections which let me enter the modeling business and then once I grew up, but didn’t grow taller, I stayed in the business partly because I’d already made contacts and became famous, but also because I have interest. Models that aren’t that tall can become models because they’re physically interesting. I have strawberry blonde hair,” She pointed at her head, “Not a lot of people have my hair coloring. Not a lot of models have my hair coloring. My hair coloring adds interest to a photo shoot so they forgive my height in favor of my more interesting features.”

 

“I never knew that,” Amy looked surprised before her gossiping side won over her shock, “Is it true that you’re recording an album?”

 

Chloe sighed, “Unfortunately.”

 

“How is that unfortunate?” Amy asked, hurt, “Do you know what I would give for that opportunity. I love singing.”

 

Chloe mentally filed that tidbit of information away to possibly discuss with her agent, “I like singing, but that’s just something I do for fun; for me. But my agent is pushing me to expand my horizons and increase my fame. Ideally, I’d love to go into acting full time. I’ve done a few perfume commercials here, a guest appearance there, but nothing real. But I can’t explain to my agent that I can’t be separated from the Covenant for months at a time for fear that I’ll be assassinated, so I chose to start a music career instead. I can tour in the summer when school ends.”

 

Amy looked insulted that music was Chloe’s last option but at the same time she could understand that Chloe didn’t have much of a choice and she wasn’t allowed to pursue what she really wanted which seemed to be acting. “Couldn’t you act during summer break instead?”

 

Chloe shook her head, “It doesn’t really work that way. Movies take months. Plus, they schedule it when they schedule it. I’m not a big enough acting name to get a movie planned around my schedule.”

 

“That sucks,” Jasmine winced sympathetically.

 

“It’s okay,” Chloe shrugged, “It’s only until I graduate. By then, I figure Chase will have gotten bored and dropped out and Reid will have gotten kicked out, so they can watch over me while I film.”

 

“Hey!” both boys protested resulting in laughter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to be 100% honest and say I was way too lazy to upload the pictures for the clothes in this chapter so if you want to see it, check out this chap on my LJ: http://tenshinrtaiga.livejournal.com/16124.html#cutid1


	15. Chapter 15

The group trooped back downstairs to the living room now that the fight had been stopped. Tyler started a movie and they all lounged on the couch. She wasn’t sure if it was purposeful, but there seemed to be a definite separation. On the right sat the Covenant, Tyler at the end, then Reid, Chase, Pogue and Caleb. Then she sat near the left corner, Alek next to her and going down the left arm, sat Amy, Paul and Jasmine. The couch was large enough that everyone had plenty of personal space, though Alek didn’t seem to get the memo since he was right up next to her.

“Do you want this back?” Alek asked, holding out the beer she had handed him some time ago.

“Oh, yeah. Sure,” She said, having totally forgotten about it. She was about to Use to open it, not wanting to get up for a bottle opener when she paused. She had been Using a lot lately and she was starting to get used to it. She was starting to Use more often… She was starting to get addicted. Instead, Chloe reached out and undid Alek’s belt buckle, garnering an interested look from the boy and a few surprised looks from those around them. However, instead of doing something salacious, Chloe merely used the buckle as a bottle opener for her beer before pressing the bottle to her lips.

The doorbell rang behind them, surprising everyone. The warlocks immediately stood up, not having expected any company and worried about whether or not this was an attack. Chloe on the other hand rolled her eyes, “I’m expecting someone. Also, I don’t think the Order assassins would ring the bell first.” She stood up and opened the front door, “Hey, Mimi.”

Everyone looked on in surprise. Chloe, who was going out with Alek, invited his ex-girlfriend to hang out? That was… weird.

“Hey. Thanks for inviting me,” The brunette said uncomfortably. She had been hesitant about coming today, but when Chloe had asked her at school, the girl had worded it so that Mimi had felt obligated to come. All Chloe had talked about was how she was new, and didn’t know anyone, and how she just wanted some new friends who would understand the truth about her. Suffice to say, Mimi had been unable to turn down Chloe’s invitation after that.

“Come on in. We’re just starting a movie,” the strawberry blonde smiled, opening the door wider, inviting the girl to step in. Mimi walked into the foyer, her eyes looking around the impressive home, a little impressed with what she saw, but used to grandeur- after all, the Mai had more than enough wealth as well.

The two girls moved into the living room, Mimi sitting on the end next to Jasmine, studiously avoiding Alek’s eyes. Chloe regained her seat next to the Brit and also ignored his questioning look. He didn’t need to know that the reason why Chloe invited Mimi was because she felt bad for the girl. A few days ago, Mimi was friends with Alek and Jasmine and then once Chloe showed up, it must have seemed like Mimi was abandoned. She pitied the girl. Chloe wanted to show Mimi that just because she and Alek ‘broke up’ didn’t mean she couldn’t still be friends with everyone. Chloe had broken up with all of the boys in the Covenant, but they were still best friends.

“So, what is this, anyway?” Chloe asked, eyes fixed on the movie.

“Wrong Turn,” Tyler answered having been the one to select the film.

“Eliza Dushku is hot!” Reid crowed, settling into the couch comfortably, laying down so that his legs were thrown up on the back of the couch near Tyler.

“She is,” Chloe agreed, standing up, “We need snacks.”

All of the boys in the Covenant stood up immediately. This was shaping into a movie fest and that meant a hell of a lot of junk food. The Covenant made their way to the kitchen and as the boys raided the cupboards Chloe and Caleb grabbed a bunch of different drinks from the fridge.

“So, what’s up with you and this Alek kid?” Caleb asked quietly, not wanting the others in the living room to hear, “I thought he was like Kai; inter-spec-ial relations.”

“Yeah, I thought so too,” Chase spoke, having already grabbed his junk food load and set it on the kitchen counter, waiting for everyone else.

“I dunno,” Chloe shrugged, “I thought so too at first, but when we kissed, there was a pretty big spark. And then he asked me out, so…”

“On a date?” Reid asked, dumping his armful onto the counter as well, Pogue and Tyler right behind him.

“You didn’t tell us that,” Tyler said, a worried furrow in his brow.

Chloe rolled her eyes, “It was just a date. We walked around, had ice cream, talked. No biggie.”

“Biggie,” Pogue said with an odd look on his face as he snagged a blue Gatorade from Chloe’s pile, “Since when do you actually talk to your dates? You must actually like this one.”

This statement caused a lot of raised eyebrows as they all turned to look at Chloe in askance. “Maybe,” She admitted shiftily.

“Maybe?” Reid asked, leaning over to rest on the counter, “Sounds like someone’s in denial.”

“Oh, no,” Tyler muttered, Reid’s words ringing a bell, “Not again.”

“What?” Reid and Chloe asked simultaneously.

Pogue looked a little nauseous, “I get it.”

“Ditto,” Caleb muttered, looking resigned.

“I don’t,” Chase said, raising a hand like he was in school.

“We all know that Reid was Chloe’s most serious boyfriend,” Tyler started explaining.

“Uhm, not really. I consider Caleb my most serious relationship,” Chloe interrupted.

“Really?” Caleb asked in surprise. Chloe nodded in response.

“Okay, that was your most serious committed relationship,” Tyler amended, “But not your longest, or your most passionate or any of those. That was with Reid,” He waited as Chloe shrugged in agreement, “However, the entire time you two dated, you both refused to admit you were dating. You even went out with other people to prove you weren’t dating.”

“What was the point of this?” Reid asked in curiosity as he munched on a chip from the bag he’d opened.

“Chloe is in denial about liking that Alek kid,” Pogue explained easily, well used to being the one who veered their conversations back on topic, “Which history shows means she really likes him.”

“Shut up,” Chloe scowled, throwing a chip at the boy. All of the boys looked at her, wondering whether or not Tyler’s theory was true, “Okay, fine. So I really like him,” She mocked Pogue’s words, “It doesn’t mean anything.”

“You went on a date with him, you talked on that date and you just admitted you like him. I say it means a lot,” Caleb spoke up, “I mean, have you even slept with him yet? Normally, you just fuck with a guy you find attractive. The last guy you actually had a real relationship with was… Chase?” He spoke questioningly, trying to think back on if she’d had any relationships after him.

Said boy in question shifted uneasily, knowing that the reason for Chloe’s lack of real relationships since him was probably his fault. Chloe had trusted him and he had lied and broken her heart. Chloe had been weary about dating ever since.

“Hmm,” Chloe hummed noncommittally, her own thoughts following the same line as Chase’s, “We should get back. The movie’s probably halfway over by now, you gossips,” She teased half heartedly, turning to go back to the living room. Chloe stopped in surprise. Standing halfway between the two rooms was Amy, blatantly eavesdropping, an embarrassed look on her face. Chloe turned to look at the others. Paul was cowering under his arm, attention clearly on the movie, however the Mai were also eavesdropping obviously using their super hearing. Chloe rolled her eyes but didn’t say anything as they all returned to the living room and she dropped her armload of drinks into the center of the coffee table, setting them up so that sodas, waters, beers, Gatorades and juices all sat neatly in lines. Caleb did the same thing with his armload, adding to the lines and rearranging things so that multiple bottles of the same flavors were grouped together.

“OCD,” Reid muttered, messily dropping his food on the table, not bothering to sort out his mess. Pogue, Chase and Tyler did the same. Caleb once again rearranged the bags so that the cookies, chips, candies and so on were all grouped together by type and spread across the table so that all three sides of the couches had access to the food equally.

“So you really like me, hmm?” Alek whispered teasingly in Chloe’s ear, inching even closer to her.

Chloe let out a small smile. She didn’t know what it was about the Brit but even when he was teasing her, he still made her really happy. It was the same way with Reid when they had been dating. They would say things that, coming from anyone else, would really annoy her or anger her, but coming from them it made her smile. Lewd jokes that normally made her cringe, made her laugh. Come ons that would get an eye roll, got a blush. Invasions of physical space- like what Alek was doing right now- which usually earned a guy a shove or a smack, got… well, nothing. Chloe didn’t move away as Alek moved even closer, his breath now hot on her ear. “Maybe,” She responded coyly, looking at him from the corner of her eye.

Alek’s smirk turned into a satisfied grin, “Maybe?” He asked softly, a hand reaching out to play with a curl of her hair.

Chloe refused to give in to the temptation he was providing, “Maybe.” She said firmly, eyes still locked on his own. They both knew that her attraction to him was a lot more than a maybe, but Chloe refused to give up that territory to his face without something in return, “And you?”

“Maybe I like you back,” He said with a small smile, not quite giving into her demands, but still letting her know his feelings. They both knew that their maybes were more than just maybes. His words earned him a genuine smile from the girl before she turned back to the movie, satisfied with the conversation. But Alek was no where near satisfied.

He reached out and cupped her chin, tugging her face back around to him. She looked at him questioningly but he just leaned over and planted his lips on hers. The kiss was intense from the start, their talk of feelings bringing up that energy. Like their first kiss, the two felt an intense hunger as they began to make out roughly. Chloe’s hand came up and laid on his cheek as she shifted more to face her body toward him. Alek helped her by placing a steadying hand on the small of her back. The hand that had previously been on her chin was now laying on the curve of her hip. Chloe reached her other hand to his shoulder where she slowly pressed down. Taking the hint, Alek leaned back, lying against couch back. Chloe followed him, their lips never separating, as she straddled his lap, both of her hands now cupping his face.

“Not that I’m complaining about the soon-to-be free porn, but I think you’re making your friends uncomfortable,” Chase spoke from behind them.

The two separated and looked around. To their embarrassment, everyone seemed to be watching them, even Paul who had remained glued to the screen even when everyone else had been eavesdropping. Chloe cleared her throat awkwardly, but instead of getting off of Alek, she merely snuggled into his arms and laid her head on his chest to watch the rest of the movie. Alek, whose arms were already wrapped tight around Chloe’s waist, leaned his head back to rest on the sofa back, taking his cue from Chloe and turning to the movie. Slowly, one by one, everyone else’s attention also returned to Eliza Dushku’s mortal peril.


	16. Chapter 16

Pogue watched on for a moment as Chloe and Alek made out passionately. Unlike the others, however, he turned back to the movie quickly. It was only because of this that he caught the heartbroken look on that Mimi girl’s face. Pogue thought back to the other day. Didn’t Valentina say that Mimi was Alek’s girlfriend? Well, clearly they’re broken up now. Why did Chloe invite Mimi is she was just going to rub her relationship with him in the girl’s face? Did Chloe hate her? No, if Chloe hated Mimi, she would have rubbed her face in it at school where everyone could see. To invite the Mai back to her home, she must genuinely like Mimi… or maybe pity her?

He took a moment to look the girl over. She was hardly unattractive with olive skin and dark brown hair. She looked like she had South American heritage, but Pogue remembered her speaking and she sounded American. Maybe she was a second generation immigrant.

The pained look on the girl’s face made Pogue feel bad for her. Clearly she still had feelings for Alek and knowing Chloe the way Pogue did, he knew that Chloe was definitely aware of it, so he had no idea why Chloe would flaunt her relationship if she liked the girl. Then again, it was probably unintentional. The boys had just been teasing her about her interest in the Mai boy and the Mai were known for their exceptional hearing. Perhaps that’s what led to the steamy make out session now occurring.

“Not that I’m complaining about the soon-to-be free porn, but I think you’re making your friends uncomfortable,” Chase spoke from next to Pogue, splitting the couple up.

Pogue raised an eyebrow when Chloe stayed curled up on Alek. That was very unlike her. She really did like this guy. Maybe Pogue should take the time to get to know him… and to warn him that should he hurt Chloe in any way, that magic could keep a body alive and in pain a lot longer than anything else in the world could.

When the movie finished, Pogue stood up to stretch. He really didn’t like standing still for long periods of time. Even for Eliza Dushku.

“Where’s the bathroom?” a feminine voice asked the room as a whole. It took Pogue a minute to realize the voice was coming from Mimi.

“Here, I’ll show you,” Pogue offered, walking around the couch. When Mimi met him, he moved back to the foyer and instead of going up the stairs, moved next to them to reveal a door hidden underneath.

“Thanks,” Mimi said as she walked in.

Pogue took this opportunity to work more feeling back into his legs. He vaguely heard Reid say he was picking the next movie, but didn’t bother returning yet. Instead he crossed the foyer into the formal living room across from the room everyone else was in. They all called that room their living room because it was used a lot more than their formal living room, but to be honest it was really more like an entertainment room or a great room. The living room had a white leather couch on a dark green rug with matching throw pillows. Pogue walked through the room and headed to the small door in the back which led to the library. The library was already filled with a lot of books and he was pretty sure that Chloe, Caleb and Reid hadn’t finished unpacking their books yet. No one would ever know it looking at the punk kid, but Reid had entered Stanford as an English Lit major. Pogue knew the boy also wanted to add a Studio Art major, but needed approval from the school first.

Pogue moved to the back corner of the room and opened a secret door that was disguised like just another section of bookshelves. In the back was the study which now contained all of their family’s magical history. The Book of Origins, the Book of Damnation… it was all here. The Books had been transported away from Ipswich for the first time since the five families came to America and colonized the town. Pogue reached a hand out and gently stroked the spines of the books as he moved across the shelves. He shivered as he felt the magic in them. It felt like someone slid an ice cube down his spine.

Finally, he moved to the door in the back of the study which led to the garage. He walked through it and then through the kitchen. Some of the teens looked at him questioningly as he moved through the entertainment room, but he just waved them off, returning to the foyer and ending the circuit. Just as he was about to begin another lap around the house, Mimi exited the bathroom.

“Oh,” She said, blinking in surprise, “Did you wait for me? Because I’m pretty sure I can make my way back just fine,” She grinned.

Pogue let out an amused chuckle, “No, I’m just walking around. I don’t like to sit still that much.”

“Me neither,” Mimi confessed.

Pogue looked at the girl for a moment before making a split second decision, “Do you want to go for a walk with me outside?” He asked.

Mimi looked startled for a second before a hesitant smile crossed her lips, “Sure.”

~

Tyler walked into the kitchen and grabbed a glass out of the cabinet. He opened up the fridge and reached into the ice box to grab a few ice cubes. He slipped them into his glass and shut the fridge door. He turned to leave, but jumped out of his skin in surprise.

“Guh!” He said in surprise, one hand automatically reaching up to clench at his heart, “You scared the living crap out of me, Baby Girl!”

Chloe just smirked.

Tyler took a step back in weariness. He knew that look. Nothing good ever came from that look, “I don’t care what you have on me. I’m not going out and buying you tampons again. I got weird looks at school for weeks after last time.”

Chloe threw her head back and laughed. “No, no tampon shopping tonight,” She reassured, “I’m just curious to know what you think about my new friends.”

“I think if that Alek punk hurts you, the Mai will never find his body… parts,” Tyler said seriously.

The strawberry blonde rolled her eyes, “I meant as a whole. Not just my…” Chloe trailed off.

“Boyfriend?” Tyler asked, a suspicious look in his eyes.

“Undefined,” She muttered crossing her arms defensively.

Tyler hmmm-ed, not entirely convinced, “Paul seems geeky and his questions about witchcraft are starting to annoy me. Amy seems cute, but naïve. Jasmine seems cool and I think Pogue has a thing for Mimi.”

“Noticed that too, huh?” Chloe smiled.

“Kinda hard not to when they sneak off for a midnight stroll,” Tyler pointed out.

“It’s 7,” Chloe quipped, “So you think Jasmine’s cool, huh?”

Tyler grew very still, “You aren’t trying to match make are you?”

Chloe shook her head, “No. I just noticed that you were complaining about everyone else, but Jasmine you complimented.”

The boy thought over his words. Huh. He did say that, didn’t he?

Seeing that her words had reached her brother, Chloe turned around and walked back into the living room, a smile on her face. She knew that Jasmine liked Tyler and now she had planted a small seed in Tyler’s mind. Now only time would tell whether or not it would grow.

~

“I’m starving. Time to order food? Chinese okay?” Reid asked the room as a whole. He got enough nods that he felt justified in pausing the movie and opening up his cell phone. Less than a week in the city and he already had the nearest Chinese place on speed dial. Technically, they were out of the radius where the restaurant delivered to, but they ordered so much that the restaurant would rather drive farther than let their business (and the huge bill that came with it) go elsewhere, “Yeah, can we have 1 general tso’s chicken, 1 hunan beef – extra spicy, 1 shrimp lo mein and 2 sweet & sour chickens. All combo plates. 1 of the sweet & sour chickens and the shrimp lo mein will have vegetarian eggrolls and chicken friend rice,” Reid turned to look at the teens, “What do you guys want?” He asked, handing the phone to the nearest one.

“Uhm, can you add 1 order of sesame chicken to that? No, not a combo plate,” Alek spoke before handing the phone to Amy.

“Yeah, can I have a vegetarian lo mein combo plate with veggie fried rice and a veggie eggroll? Thanks,” Amy grinned handing the phone down once more.

“I’d like an order of sweet and sour pork. Not a combo plate,” Paul ordered easily, “And a side order of teriyaki chicken.”

Jasmine was given the phone last, “a Beef and broccoli combo plate with beef fried rice,” She said simply handing the phone back to Reid.

“What do you think your other friend wants?” Reid asked.

“Mimi like lemon chicken,” Alek spoke up.

“And 1 order of lemon chicken. No combo plate. Lastly, we’d like…” Reid quickly counted the people in the room. 9 plus Pogue and Mimi made 11, “20 eggrolls. Yeah, 20.” That way everyone could have a second (or a first for those who didn’t order combo plated) and Chase only ever wanted eggrolls anyway, “10 vegetarian, 5 pork, 5 chicken. You can combine the eggrolls from the combo plates into those bags too. Make sure they’re labeled, okay? And 11 orders of crispy noodles. That’s it. Oh, and include 11 pairs of chopsticks, okay?” Reid finished up.

“God, we might as well pay the rent for the place,” Caleb muttering as he tried to work out how much this was going to cost.

They all settled back into the movie, Pogue and Mimi finally returning from their walk. Almost an hour later, the doorbell rang.

“Alright guys, pony up!” Reid said as Caleb and Pogue tossed out their wallets before going up to the front door.

Chloe pulled out a ten, as did all the boys. Catching on, Alek and the others also pulled out tens. Chloe reached out for Caleb’s wallet as Reid took Pogue’s and pulled out even more tens.

“150!” Pogue called over his shoulder as he picked up one of the many take out bags.

Once again, Chloe and the boys reached into their wallet and pulled out fives, the others following their lead.

“155,” Reid announced collecting the money, “Perfect,” He counted quickly before jogging over to the door to pay the delivery guy, “Thanks, man,” he said as he closed the door and reached out to help with the numerous take out bags. Between the three boys, they managed to carry everything to the coffee table where Chase and Tyler had removed all of their drinks and snacks and moved them to the floor in front of the tv where they wouldn’t get in anyone’s way. Chloe, meanwhile, had gone to the kitchen and was grabbing plates and silverware in case her friends needed it.

Chloe set them on the table as Reid tore open the bags and began announcing what the foods were and passing them around to whoever ordered what. It took a few minutes but soon everyone was settled onto the floor in front of the couch, eating off the coffee table. Not a single person touched the silverware, everyone preferring to use chopsticks and Mimi and Amy were the only ones using plates, everyone else just eating out of their containers.

After a few bites, the Covenant suddenly started switching containers with each other. Alek looked down at Chloe in amusement as she began munching on some of Chase’s eggrolls. Feeling his eyes on her, she turned to face him, “Want one?” She asked innocently, holding up the bag labeled ‘chicken eggrolls’. Instead of taking the bag he leaned his head down and took a bite of the eggroll she had been munching on. Chloe just rolled her eyes and continued eating, occasionally sharing a bite with the blond. Alek, likewise, shared his sesame chicken with her. Soon enough, the Covenant once again switched containers. “You guys want anything?” Chloe asked her new friends, “Seriously, we’re big on food sharing,” She offered.

“What do you have?” Jasmine asked.

Chloe looked down before wrinkling her nose, “Shrimp Lo Mein. Switch?” She asked. Jasmine nodded and Chloe came into the possession of beef and broccoli, making her happy. She really hated seafood. Once again, she shared with Alek, but refused more of his sesame chicken, saving room in her stomach for more container switching, “Can I have Reid’s beef next?” She asked the room as a whole, not knowing who had it. Caleb nodded and handed it over right then. Caleb wasn’t a fan of spicy food. Chloe munched happily on hot peppers and shared a bite with Alek who looked impressed with the heat. He set down his own container and began eating the beef with Chloe.

An hour later, they were all full and lounged about, some still on the floor, some returning to the couches. Chloe and Alek were two who had returned to the couch. They retook their former positions; Alek laid out with Chloe resting on top of him. Pogue now sat on the left side of the sofa next to Mimi. They weren’t sitting particularly close but it had to mean something that Pogue moved to the other side to sit next to the girl.

Suddenly, the doorbell rang gaining everyone attention. The Covenant looked at Chloe who shook her head, getting up, “I’m not expecting anyone,” She whispered. Suddenly there was a flurry of movement as Caleb, Chase and Reid stood in front of the girl with Pogue and Tyler standing next to her. The Mai stood next to the group, ready for anything while Amy and Paul clenched each other’s hands and hid behind both groups. Caleb moved forward and, staying in eyesight at all times, opened the door.

“Sarah?” He asked in complete confusion.


	17. Chapter 17

“Sarah?” Caleb asked in complete confusion. The Covenant relaxed, though they all gained confused expressions. Seeing that the others didn’t think this Sarah girl was a threat, the Mai also calmed down. “What are you doing here?” He asked.

“I had to come and talk to you. I found out that you aren’t going to Harvard and that you moved out to California. Caleb…” Sarah trailed off.

Caleb moved to the side to let the girl come in. Sarah was about average height at 5’6. She had bright blue eyes and blonde hair. She wore a jean skirt and a black zip up hoodie, her hands awkwardly crammed into the pockets.

“Let’s talk somewhere private,” Caleb said softly, hyperaware of the stares they were receiving, “Let’s go to the study,” He reached a hand out and rested it on the girl’s lower back, leading her away from the group.

The teens all settled back in, Caleb and Sarah’s voices getting softer as they got farther away. It was a full minute later before anyone spoke. “Hey, Chloe?” Chase asked.

“Hmm?” She mumbled getting comfy lying on top of Alek.

“Didn’t we put the Books in the study?”

Chloe went very still for a moment, as did all of the Covenant. Suddenly she jumped up from where she was lying, vaulting over the couch instead of walking around. She ran through the foyer and the living room, bursting into the library, surprising the other two teens.

“Caleb! The Books!” She said wide eyed, stopping the boy from opening the study door. Caleb’s eyes widened in realization also before turning to Sarah.

“This is as good a place as any to talk,” He grinned charmingly, guiding her over to the desk in the middle of the room.

Satisfied that she’d warned Caleb in time, Chloe returned to the entertainment room. “What was that about?” Jasmine asked curiously.

“Our family’s books on magic are in the study. People who aren’t of the Covenant can’t go in,” Chloe explained, taking a gulp of water, the scare having given her dry mouth.

“What happens if someone does?” Paul asked curiously.

“They burn to death,” Chase smirked darkly causing people to shift warily.

“It’s a magical precaution,” Chloe explained, not wanting her friends to think they were all homicidal maniacs like Chase, “To prevent the discovery of magic by humans and to protect our families’ secrets.”

“So, these books… Are they like spellbooks?” Paul asked eagerly, no longer paying attention to the film.

“Ehh,” Chloe hedged, “Not really. More like books about our history. They include some of our families’ favorite spells but they aren’t spellbooks.”

“What kind of history?” Amy asked. No one seemed to be paying any attention to the movie anymore.

“Everything. There are family journals- which are boring-“ She stated getting nods of agreement from her brothers, “But there are also books that chronicle important events like the Damnation.”

“The Damnation?” Amy asked, sounding a little weary, “That sounds scary.”

“It is,” Pogue spoke smoothly, “For any self-respecting witch with a brain.”

“The Damnation is what our kind call the Witch Trials. A lot of innocent people died during this time,” Chloe explained.

“I read about that. People falsely accusing others and making them take impossible tests,” Jasmine nodded.

“Yes, a lot of humans were killed, but so were a lot of witches and non-humans. They never did anything to anyone, but they were killed because of what they were. Witches can’t help being born witches anymore than you can help being Mai, or Paul can help being Asian,” Chloe spoke vehemently. The others looked at her, impressed. She really was the Uniter, “We are who we are, but back then, everybody lived in fear. We still do,” She said softly; regretfully.

There was a moment of silence as everyone digested her words. Then Paul spoke up, “So what else is in the books?”

“The Book of Secrets contains the theories surrounding where we got our magic. That book is positively ancient,” Chloe smiled, “The Book of Origins chronicles our families’ move to America centuries ago and of course there’s the Book of Damnation which is about our families’ run in with the Trials. Oh, and the new Book of me.”

“The Book of Me?” Amy asked looking amused by the odd name. The Covenant chuckled.

“No, the Book of me,” Chloe pointed to herself, “Right now it’s called the Book of the Uniter, but the families are thinking that once I’ve finished my Uniter duties, they’ll rename it something like the Book of Peace. It chronicles my life.”

“You have a book written about yourself?” Paul asked in awe, “Cool.”

 

“You guys are probably in it,” She shrugged.

The teens looked at her in surprise, “We are?” Jasmine asked.

“The Book records everything I do and who I do it with. So, yes, you’re probably in it,” She nodded, “Since you three were there for the agreement with the Mai,” She looked at Alek, Jasmine and Mimi, “And since you are the first human I’ve ever revealed my secret to,” She looked at Amy and Paul, “You are probably in the Book.”

“You don’t know? Who writes the Book?” Amy asked.

Chloe shrugged, “Magic. When I was adopted by the Covenant and they found out who I was, they started a Book on me. Because magic writes it, it is capable of knowing things about me even I didn’t know. It’s pretty much my entire history.”

“What do you mean know things about you, you don’t even know?” Jasmine asked, slightly suspicious of such a thing.

“My father suspected that I died in the massacre that killed my family, but the Book confirmed it in my history,” Chloe explained, “It knew even when I didn’t.”

“Can we see the Book?” Mimi asked, curious about something that involved her.

The boys shook their head, “You aren’t witches of the Covenant. You’d burn to death, remember?” Pogue answered.

“So, you keep these books for a really long time?” Paul asked, excited.

“Oh, yeah,” Chloe nodded, “The Book of Ancients is… jeez, I don’t even know how old. A thousand?” She guessed, totally ignoring her gaping friends, “We’re required to study the Books growing up.”

“People are going to know about us 1,000 years from now?” Amy asked in surprise.

Chloe shrugged, “Yeah, probably.”

“Can I ask more witch questions?” Paul questioned, raising his hand like he was in class. When the others shrugged, he continued, “Flying on brooms?”

“False,” Chloe nodded, deciding to save the story of flying in Tyler’s Hummer for another day.

“Warts?”

Chloe made a grossed out face, “False.”

“Cackling?” Paul asked.

“Only when I’ve done something particularly evil,” Chase offered with a smirk. The others laughed but only the Covenant knew that Chase was being mostly serious. It wasn’t that long ago that Chase was trying to kill them all in order to gain their power.

“Cauldrons?”

“Eh,” Pogue grunted, “We do make some potions but we don’t use cauldrons to do it.”

“What kind of potions?” the Asian asked, clearly envisioning some sort Harry Potter Snape-esque answer.

“For healing mostly,” Reid answered. He was the one who did the best with potions, “My mom asked me to make her some fertility potions a couple years ago,” He said with a thoroughly grossed out face.

Their talk was interrupted by Caleb and Sarah returning to the foyer. Sarah had tear streaks down her cheeks whereas Caleb just looked incredibly weary. Sarah left without saying another word and Caleb moved to collapse on the couch.

“What was that about?” Reid asked the boy.

“She found out that I wasn’t going to Harvard and thought it was because of her. She came here to get me to go back to Massachusetts. I guess she felt guilty or something,” Caleb replied, an arm over his eyes.

“She thought you moved to the other side of the country because of her?” Chase asked with a smirk, “And you guys say I’m arrogant.”

Caleb smiled slightly but maintained his tired stance, “Yeah. She wasn’t happy when I told her the reason I moved out here was so that I could be with Chloe.”

The boys all winced whereas Chloe rolled her eyes, “She’s still on that? God, what will it take for her to figure out we’re family. We haven’t dated in years. I can’t believe she still thinks we’re fucking around,” the strawberry blonde scowled. She used to be really good friends with Sarah at first but as the girl got closer and closer to Caleb the more jealous she became of Chloe’s position in his life. She became convinced that Chloe and Caleb were carrying on some sort of secret affair and kept accusing them. No matter what anybody said, she was convinced she was right. Eventually, Caleb got tired of the accusations and broke up with her which just seemed to validate her theories in her own mind.

“You can’t be that hard on her,” Pogue interject, always the objective one, “You guys are still really close and she would have understood the family thing if you guys hadn’t admitted to having a romantic past. Plus, Chloe is a famous model and actress. I can see how Sarah would get insecure.”

“There’s insecure and then there’s neurotic,” Chloe muttered hatefully, not wanting to admit Pogue had a point.

Pogue rolled his eyes but let the subject go.

“Look, can we just keep watching movies and not talk about my ex anymore?” Caleb muttered finally moving his arm from his face. He had really cared about Sarah but her insecurities and drama had worn him out until he just couldn’t be with her anymore. It got to the point where he avoided her calls and turned around and walked in the opposite direction when he saw her. The hardest thing he’d had to do was put up with her accusing glances when they worked together as Valedictorian and Salutatorian.

The others nodded and pressed play, returning back to the mindlessness the movies provided.


	18. Chapter 18

Caleb sat across the desk watching Sarah as she fiddled with her sleeves nervously. When she had first come in, things had been weird, but fine. However, the moment Chloe burst in to warn him about the study, Sarah had closed off. Now they were sitting in tense silence as he waited for her to speak. Finally, impatient, Caleb spoke up, “So what did you come here to see me about?”

Sarah took a deep breath before looking up to meet his eyes for the first time all night, “I found out that you weren’t going to Harvard.” Caleb nodded but didn’t say anything, still unsure where she was going with this. Sarah looked down, not wanting to look him in the face as she continued speaking, “I thought… I know that what happened between us was really bad and I know that the bitterness, the anger… I know that that is on me. I thought maybe you didn’t go because you didn’t want to see me…” Sarah trailed off as she looked up to see Caleb’s reaction to her words. To see if he agreed with them or thought she was completely off base. But Caleb was like a stone; expressionless, not giving anything away, so Sarah continued, talking faster in nervousness, “So, I went to your house to talk to you but Evelyn told me you’d moved out here to go to Stanford,” Now Sarah looked up to talk to him, “Stanford? I thought you wanted to go to Harvard? Harvard was always your dream because of your father,” then Sarah winced. Caleb’s father was a sore subject.

Caleb’s jaw clenched at the mention of his father. He looked away from the blonde as he tried to gather his thoughts. Growing up, Caleb had looked up to his father so much. He had wanted to be just like him, which included going to his Alma Mater Harvard. But when William Danvers grew addicted, Caleb became disillusioned; watching his father Use and Use, not caring that he was aging; that he was dying. And worst was watching his mother. Evelyn loved William so much and Caleb knew his father loved his mother back… but not as much as he loved the Power.

Evelyn begged and begged, but William could never give it up. And eventually, he grew so old that he could no longer function without a life support system and constant care. The Danvers lied and said that William passed away, but the truth was that he was holed up in the old Danvers house being taken care of by the family caretaker, Gorman, whose family had been keeping their secrets and helping the Danvers since they came over from Europe. After that, Evelyn became a bit of an alcoholic because to her, her husband was dead. The man she married; the kind loving husband and father who would do anything for his family was no more. In his place was a decrepit, bitter old man who loved power more than his own flesh and blood.

Caleb moved out of Spencer’s dorms in order to take care of his mother. He hated his father for what he did but at the same time he understood the seduction of the power and was unable to truly hate his own father. Caleb continued to run errands on behalf of Gorman; getting his father the necessary medicines and equipment so that he could continue living the half life he had given himself, though Caleb had stopped speaking to the man, only talking to Gorman. Despite his conflicting feelings about his father, Caleb still wanted to go to Harvard. He wanted to remember the man his father was, not the weak man he became.

That’s when he met Sarah… and Chase. Sarah was a scholarship student who had just transferred to Spencer in their senior year. Chase was a wealthy orphan who also transferred. Sarah dreamed of getting into Harvard and she and Caleb bonded over their shared dreams. They began dating and Caleb grew to care about her deeply. Sarah integrated into the group seamlessly, being roommates with Pogue’s long time girlfriend Kate. Chase also became part of the group as he befriended Caleb and began dating Chloe. But then, things started happening. People started dying and someone began sending darklings to the Covenant.

Darklings were spirits of the newly dead who had been killed in some supernatural way. Darklings were only seen in two situations: they either haunted the one who killed them or they were sent as a warning by the murdered to someone else. No one in the Covenant knew who would want to send them a darkling and it was setting everybody on edge. As it crept closer to Caleb’s 18th birthday- his Ascension- his body became more and more sensitive to the Power. He felt someone Using and he confronted Reid about it. Reid was the one who Used the most out of all five. Reid denied the claims and the two got into a violent, magical fight because Caleb didn’t believe him. Caleb knew that Pogue didn’t do it, Chloe would never lie to Caleb and Tyler didn’t have the balls to. That left Reid.

However, in a swimming competition, Caleb saw Chase’s eyes go pitch black the way warlocks did while Using. Getting suspicious, Caleb and Pogue broke into the school and looked through Chase’s records. That’s how they found out that Chase was adopted, his real name being Chase Goodwin-Pope, and that his adoptive parents died on his 18th birthday.

The Book of Damnation recorded everything that occurred during the Damnation. Agnes Goodwin-Pope was one of the main accusers of John Putnam, the fifth member of the Covenant. She claimed that he came to her like an incubus in the night after she was widowed. The Book also recorded births and deaths. Her son, Hagen, was born almost 11 months after her husband Jacob died. Hagen Pope was the bastard son of John Putnam, which meant that Chase was a lost descendant of the Covenant and one of them.

As Pogue and Caleb told the others what they discovered, Chase attacked Kate sending her to the hospital with hundreds of spider bites. Chase knew that they had discovered his secret. Spiders was an old Putnam family trick and he was just flaunting the truth in front of the others now. Pogue went to see Kate in the hospital, but encountered Chase instead. Chase beat Pogue badly and he wound up in the hospital with several broken bones and a concussion. Then Chase had gone on to attack Sarah in front of Caleb. Chase had used Pogue and Sarah as a message, telling Caleb that if he didn’t come to the old Putnam Barn on Caleb’s birthday, that Chase would kill everybody Caleb held dear. Chloe broke down at the fact that her boyfriend was the one trying to hurt them.

Sarah, meanwhile, had realized that something suspicious was going on and confronted Caleb. Caleb wound up telling her the truth about everything: warlocks, the Covenant, John Putnam and Chase. He had no choice but to meet with Chase. Chase was much more powerful than anyone else in the Covenant. He had already Ascended and on top of that, his father had willed him his power, making Chase twice as strong. It was against the laws of the Covenant to will away their power because after one’s 18th birthday, the power became their life. Will it away and they’d die.

Chase wasn’t raised the way the others were. He hadn’t grown up knowing the consequences of addiction. It was only after he found his biological father that he found out about the aging, but by then it was too late, he was already addicted. He thought that by adding Caleb’s power on top of his own, it would stop the effects. He didn’t know that it was the body that wore down, not the power.

Caleb went to meet Chase on his own, trusting Reid, Tyler and Chloe to guard Sarah and keep her safe so that Chase wouldn’t be able to use her as leverage. Unfortunately, Chase got to Sarah anyway. He snuck up from behind and kidnapped her while Reid and Tyler were on the phone with Caleb. Chloe tried to stop him, but he put a spell on her, knocking her unconscious.

Chase flaunted Sarah’s capture to Caleb and they began to fight. Chase was beating Caleb badly when the clock struck 11:12- Caleb’s birthday. After Caleb’s Ascension, the fight went a little bit better for him, but he was still no match for Chase’s power. But unbeknownst to Caleb, his mother Evelyn had gone to William and begged him to will his power to his son. At first, William refused. Even old and decrepit, he still could not let the power go. But eventually, his love for Caleb won out and William gave his power to his only son.

Caleb managed to beat Chase but not kill him. Chase went into hiding to recover from the battle while Caleb and the others’ lives went back to normal. Now that Sarah knew the truth, Caleb never had to lie or hide things from her. He thought it was a blessing, but he was wrong. Caleb told her when he was hanging out with the others studying magic or going out of town with Chloe for a fashion shoot. Sarah had never realized how much time Caleb spent with Chloe because he’d always said he’d had a ‘family thing’. Now Sarah knew that a family thing really meant a Chloe thing.

At first she tried to contain her jealousy. Chloe was her friend and she trusted Caleb, but one day one of the boys let it slip that Chloe and Caleb used to date and that they had been a pretty serious couple. It was like a dam burst inside Sarah and all of her insecurities leaked out. Every time Caleb left her, she began to wonder if he was going to see Chloe. Every time Caleb canceled a date, she wondered if he was too busy with the other girl. Finally, it got to the point where Sarah began to wonder if it was the model he was thinking about when he and Sarah made love.

Then Chase came back. In exchange for access to his family’s magics, he became bound to the Covenant. He swore loyalty to the families and his magic was bound temporarily so that he could wean off the power and curb the addiction. After finding out the truth about Chase, Chloe had gotten harder, more jaded. She began acting more like Reid. She stopped having boyfriends and just screwed around, not letting anyone close. So, when Chase returned, Sarah was actually happy at first. She knew how much Chloe used to care about the boy. Sarah selfishly hoped that now that Chase was on their side that he and Chloe would get back together and her paranoia over Caleb would stop. But that’s not what happened. Chloe forgave Chase for hurting her, but couldn’t forget enough to get back together with him. Instead, she turned to Caleb for comfort as she tried to handle the emotional upheaval Chase’s return brought. Suddenly, Sarah couldn’t take it anymore. She just knew that they were having an affair behind her back. She accused Caleb but even when he denied it, he still crept around meeting up with Chloe.

Sarah began spying on the two of them and she kept up her accusations. She knew that she was pushing Caleb away but she knew that she was right and refused to give in until he confessed. After a while, Caleb broke up with her, but that just proved that he was secretly seeing Chloe. After they broke up, Sarah stopped talking to everyone in the Covenant except for Kate. This proved difficult because they were her only friends at Spencer. As a few months passed and Chloe and Caleb didn’t come out as a couple, Sarah began to wonder if she was wrong. The idea began to fester in her mind as she began to regret all of her accusations. When the original Salutatorian backed out and Sarah took his place, she dreaded working with Caleb knowing that she had been wrong and that she had pushed him away. But then Caleb had shown up for their first Valedictorian-Salutatorian meeting. His arm was draped across Chloe’s shoulder as he grinned at something the girl had said. When he caught sight of Sarah, his smile dropped off his face, clearly surprised to see her there and his arm fell to his side. Sarah’s teeth clenched as a guilty look entered both his and Chloe’s eyes. Those three weeks of working together, pretending they didn’t have some sort of horrible history, killed her.

Over the summer, she had mellowed out. She refused to let a boy torment her like this. She relaxed, had fun and even had a few summer flings before college started. But then she showed up at freshman orientation and realized that Caleb wasn’t there. She searched the list of freshman and didn’t see his name. A horrible thought entered her mind. What if he gave up his Harvard dream because he couldn’t stand to so much as be on the same campus as her? What if she had created that much animosity between them?

Sarah went back to Ipswich to talk to him, but Caleb’s mother had told him that he moved to San Francisco to attend Stanford. Her guilt felt even worse. Did he hate her so much that he moved to the other side of the country? She’d gone back to Harvard, but her thoughts continued to eat her alive until a week later, she’d bought a ticket and boarded a plane for the sunshine state.

Sarah was surprised to see the other members of the Covenant there too. She had thought that they had all planned on attending separate schools, all on the east coast. And then she saw Chloe. Chloe had moved out to California to be with Caleb? No, Sarah told herself. She was being paranoid. Chloe had moved out to be with the Covenant. All of them, not just Caleb.

“Harvard was my dream,” Caleb spoke, startling Sarah out of her thoughts, “But dreams change. I wanted to go to Harvard to remind myself of the kind and caring man my father was. I don’t need to do that anymore. He gave up his life for me. I know what kind of man he was.”

“So why Stanford?” She asked hesitantly, her hand itching to reach out and grasp his own. The sad expression on his face as he thought about his father reached out to her.

Caleb visibly hesitated before opting to tell the truth. Mostly. He had told Sarah about magic, but he had never told her the truth about who Chloe was. That she was the prophesized Uniter, “I… We came out here to be with Chloe. She needed to move out here for some work stuff,” He said vaguely, not mentioning that the ‘work’ was Uniter work, not modeling work.

Sarah stiffened, trying not to react to his words. He had said ‘I’. He had changed it, but it was still there. He had moved out here to be with Chloe. “I see. I guess I came all this way for nothing then,” She said, standing up as tears fell down her cheeks.

“Sarah,” Caleb stood up too, reaching out for the girl, but Sarah just turned away.

“I think it’s time for me to go.”

Caleb wished he could say something, but there was too much history between him and Sarah and even if they could work it out, he lived in California now and he had an obligation to help Chloe with the negotiations. He merely led Sarah back to the front door and led her out. There was nothing he could do. What’s done is done.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: CHAPTER CONTENT RATED NC-17!

Chloe quietly crept down the dark staircase. It was late at night and she had woken up from a bad dream that she couldn’t remember much about. She was making her way through the foyer when she heard a rustling in the other room. At first she thought nothing of it. There was a storm going on outside and it was probably the wind blowing a tree near the house. But then she entered the living room and saw a male figure get lit up by lightning. Chloe tensed before another bolt of lightning allowed her enough light to recognize the half clothed figure, “Alek?” She asked hesitantly.

The figure whirled around in surprise, “Chloe,” He whispered, “You startled me,” He grinned slightly.

“What are you doing up?” She asked moving to stand next to him.

Alek turned to look back out the window, “I love storms,” He smiled thoughtfully, looking out at the trees that bordered the house from its neighbors, “It’s one of the only things I can remember of my birth parents.”

“Do you want to talk about?” She asked hesitantly, reaching out a hand to gently stroke his shoulder comfortingly, not fazed by his lack of shirt.

“There’s not much to talk about. I remember sitting on my balcony in Moscow with my father watching the storm. My mother would make us hot chocolate and we’d listen to the thunder all night,” Alek murmured pained.

Chloe let her hand drop to clasp his own before reaching up with her other hand to grasp his upper arm, hugging his appendage to herself. She rested her head on his upper arm trying to comfort him, “What happened?” Chloe whispered hesitantly.

“Order raid,” Alek muttered, “It was when they started searching for the Uniter. They just slaughtered every non-human they could find. I was in London at boarding school. Somehow I became a ward of England and I was adopted by humans not long after. Growing up, I didn’t know about my heritage. When I turned 16 and began to change, I freaked out. I told my adoptive parents, but they… they didn’t take it well,” Alek scowled bitterly. Chloe gave his arm a squeeze, earning herself a small smile in gratitude, “I ran away. It was pure luck that Valentina found me. I was living off the streets in New York. She saw me use my Mai skills to steal some food. She tracked me down, explained the truth and took me in like I was her own.” Chloe blinked in surprise. She sort of had a hard time believing that Valentina, the legendary warrior and leader, had been kind enough to do something like that. Chloe looked up into Alek’s eyes and noticed how pained they looked. She reached up and gently cupped his face, forcing him to look at her. Then she slowly drew him down as she reached up on her toes and met him in a soft kiss.

Gradually, the kiss grew more heated and Chloe stepped onto the window sill of the floor to ceiling length windows. The couple of extra inches put her at a perfect height for kissing the tall boy. She reached her hands out to tangle in his hair before slowly letting them trail down, nails scraping down his spine. She grinned into the kiss when she felt him shiver.

“So that’s how you want to play it,” Alek smirked softly, separating for a brief moment before tugging her closer so that she leaned fully into him, having no choice but to trust that he wouldn’t let her fall flat on her face. Their lips met again as he let his fingers trail up her shirt, lightly teasing her skin. Chloe held in her moan, refusing to react. This just dared Alek to try harder. His hands crept up her shirt more and more, gently stroking up and down, tickling her skin deliciously. His fingertips made its way to her bra strap before she got fed up. She pulled away and pulled her shirt over her head. Alek’s eyes widened. This definitely wasn’t what he’d had planned, but he certainly wasn’t complaining.

Eyes darkening, he scanned her body before sliding a hand into her curls and gripping her head firmly as he slid his lips against hers. The playful teasing mood was gone, replaced by hunger and complete ferociousness. Alek’s mouth trailed down to her neck as she threw her arms around his shoulders, her legs growing weak. Alek’s hands slid behind her back to unclasp her bra. He threw the piece of clothing to the floor and moved his mouth lower. Chloe let out an involuntary gasp as her eyes fluttered shut at the feel of his hot mouth again her breasts.

Chloe reached out and gently tugged on his sweatpants, sliding them to the floor easily leaving him naked. Alek apparently didn’t sleep in underwear. She slid her arms up over his chest and then down his back, pressing their bare chests together. Alek let out a groan as he nuzzled her neck while Chloe pressed soft butterfly kisses to his own neck. She gently pulled him up onto the window sill with her and turned him around so that he was lying against the glass. She locked eyes with him as she slowly lowered to her knees. Alek’s eyes darkened to a deep black as he realized what she had planned.

Chloe let out a small lick to the head of his cock, smirking when Alek’s knees buckled slightly. She blew a little cold air and grinned fully when Alek reacted by interlocking his fingers into her curly hair, gripping tightly. Chloe started by giving small, soft licks all over his cock, like a lollipop. Then she gradually applied more pressure with her tongue, elongating her licks until one sweep went from base to tip. Just when Alek’s pleasure was starting to build, she slowed down again to soft, short licks. Alek groaned, his grip tightening on her hair, making his displeasure known. Chloe began licking harder again, but this time swirling her tongue. As Alek’s pleasure grew higher, she finally took his tip into her mouth, sucking hard.

“Fuck!” Alek exclaimed, the back of his head hitting the window in surprise as little lights burst behind his eyes.

Chloe smirked around her mouthful but continued slowly lowering her mouth down his length, sucking harder the farther she went. Alek was leaned fully against the glass now, unable to stand on his own. Once Chloe got as far as she could she stopped for a second to give a low hum before quickly dragging her mouth away before Alek could even process what she was doing. He looked down at her at the edge of frustration. Every time she brought him to a new pleasure peak, she’d stop. Before he could get any words out, her mouth was on his dick again and any thoughts of anger he’d had before flew out of his head. This time she moved faster, bobbing her head as she sucked him off, her hand reaching out to grasp his base. Each time she bobbed, she got her mouth a little bit farther down his length as he gag reflex got used to the intrusion.

Alek’s grip on her hair grew tighter and tighter as he felt his orgasm approaching. He was just seconds from the edge when Chloe pulled back once more. “Chloe!” He yelled angrily, his eyes fluttering open. The strawberry blonde stood up, a smirk on her lips.

“Yes?” She asked innocently like her mouth hadn’t just been wrapped tight around his dick. Alek growled about to lecture her on things not to do during a blow job (stopping before the end was one of them) when Chloe hooked her thumbs around her shorts and tugged them and her panties down her legs. Alek’s throat closed up and once more he forgot what he was going to say. “Is there a problem?” She asked, once again with faux-innocence. The effect was ruined by the taunting smirk on her lips.

Instead of answering, Alek reached out to grip her hips and twirled them around, slamming her body against the window. He reached down to hook his hands under her thighs and lifted her up. Chloe had teased him to the brink of insanity. He didn’t know where the animalistic side started and human side ended. He slammed into her forcefully, growling as he felt her nails dig harshly into his back. He nuzzled into her neck, nipping at the soft skin as he pulled back and slammed into her again. There was a small voice in the back of his head warning him that he was forgetting something important but the sounds of her moans drowned the voice out before he could remember what that something was.

For a moment, the human side of Alek’s mind wondered how he was ranking. He himself had only slept with two girls before: Mimi and some random Mai he met on one of Valentina’s trips. Alek knew that Chloe had slept with at least four other men (the Covenant) and probably more than that if what the boys said about her relationships were true. That small seed of insecurity in his mind vanished the moment Chloe leaned in to lick the shell of his ear whispering “harder”. Alek stopped thinking and focused purely on thrusting into her. He let his head fall as he laid kisses up and down her neck and chest. Chloe let out a loud groan as her head fell back onto the glass and her hands moved from his shoulders up into his hair. She clenched his locks tightly, much like he had her own earlier, and used the leverage to draw his lips to hers for a rough kiss. As their tongues dueled for dominance, Chloe let out a whimper, feeling herself get close. She reached a hand down to play with her own clit. Feeling the movement, Alek broke away to stare down at her. His eyes darkened even more, if that were possible, at the sight of her touching herself.

He thrust in her harder, hitting against her cervix. Chloe let out a harsh gasp, her eyes flying wide open in surprise. Alek stopped, worried for a moment that he hurt her. “No!” She cried out, “Do it again. God, Alek! Do it again!” Smirking, Alek repeated the motion, slamming against her barrier harshly. Chloe began rubbing her clit more frantically as the pleasure mixed with the slight bit of pain he was causing. “Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God,” Chloe began chanting as she felt herself teetering on the edge. Alek leaned down to gently nip at one of her nipples. The sharp sting mixed with the searing pleasure as Chloe fell over the edge. “ALEK!” She screamed, wrapping her arms around his shoulder, clutching him close as she shuddered and sobbed in his arms. He grit his teeth as he buried his face in her shoulder continuing his thrusting a few times, determined to ride her orgasm out first before coming. She came hard, squeezing him harder than he ever thought possible. Soon, she was too tight for him to even move so he stayed still as she continued to orgasm. Even as she was coming down from her high, her body was still clenching around him frequently. It was only when her arms fell limply from his shoulders that he allowed himself to cum inside of her.

With the last bit of his strength, Alek turned the two of them around allowing him to slide down the window with her straddling his lap. She was still shaking in his arms, the power of her orgasm sending small shock along her body.

“That was…” She murmured, unable to so much as lift her head from where it rested against his shoulder.

“So far beyond fantastic we might need to make up a new word and add it to the English dictionary?” Alek smirked tiredly his hands moving in soft circles across her thighs.

“Pretty much,” Chloe whispered. After a few long minutes of silent recovery, Chloe shifted, looking up at the Brit, “We should get back to bed. We have to be up soon for school and the others might notice we’re gone.”

Alek nodded, unsure of what to say. They’d been out on one date, they’d snogged a handful of times and now they’d shagged. They weren’t even officially going out yet. It was shaping up to be the weirdest relationships he’d ever been in.

Chloe moved slightly, allowing Alek to slip out of her. She stood up on wobbly legs and bent over to grab her clothes from the floor. The vantage made Alek’s cock twitch for her again when suddenly he noticed something. “Shit.”

“What?” She asked looking over her shoulder at him.

“We didn’t use a condom,” He spoke, his eyes wide.

Chloe smirked, “Don’t worry. I’m on the pill.” Alek let out a visible sigh of relief. “And I kinda like the feel of your hot cum dripping down my thighs,” She smirked naughtily before walking away.

She barely made it two steps when Alek tackled her to the ground from behind with a loud growl, his new erection pressed firmly into her belly. It was shaping up into quite a night.


	20. Chapter 20

Mimi held in a sob as tears leaked out of her eyes. She felt a presence behind her and swiftly wiped her tears away trying to look stoic. Pogue sat down on the steps next to her despite them being damp from the rain. There was a moment of silence before he spoke, “So I guess you saw.”

Mimi let out a choked sound as her internal dam burst and the tears began pouring out. She could hold in her heartbreaking sobs anymore. Pogue wrapped an arm around her shoulders and brought her to his side, comforting her. “It’s not like I didn’t know. He’s made it pretty obvious how he feels about her and it’s not like I haven’t noticed her responding.”

“It was still a pretty shit thing to have to see,” Pogue murmured, gently rubbing her arm soothingly.

“It’s been three days,” She choked out hysterically, “A week ago, that would have been me!”

Pogue shrugged lightly, “I think a week ago, Chloe was screwing her Jackal friend.”

Mimi’s face automatically screwed up in disgust at the thought of going near a Jackal let alone sleeping with one before it returned back to its sad visage. “I just wish he would have waited more than a day to get with her.”

Pogue thought for a minute, “Do you honestly think it would have made you feel better to see them a month from now?”

The girl didn’t even have to think, “No. I love him. I know he’s never felt the same way, but still. It hurts,” She whimpered, leaning her head into the boy’s shoulder, curling her body up.

“I know it does,” Pogue soothed, rubbing her arms again, “I know.”

~

”Dude. Are you seriously watching them?” Tyler asked in disgust as he looked down at the creeping blond.

“What? They’re hot together,” Reid smirked, “I never knew Chloe was that limber. I think I missed out when we were dating.”

Tyler rolled his eyes and smacked the back of Reid’s head, “Stop perving. You know she’s gonna be pissed when she finds out.”

“If she finds out,” Reid corrected, never drawing his eyes away from the two teens going at it in the living room.

“It’s Chloe. She always finds out,” The dark haired boy pointed out.

Reid thought about that for a minute before imagining whatever horrible punishments Chloe would inflict on him for watching her as she had sex. Then he shrugged, a lecherous grin on his face, “Worth it.”

~

Chase smirked as he looked through his closet for clothes. After finding out what Chloe and her new boy toy were up to, he was feeling a little frisky. He quickly changed out of his pajamas and into a pair of jeans, a tight shirt and a dark jacket. He grabbed his car keys off his bedside table and left his room after one more quick check in the mirror.

He was heading down the stairs when he passed by a grossed out Tyler who was making his way up. Chase just let out a smirk at the boy’s disgust earning himself a scowl. Even though Chase was on the good guy side now, it didn’t mean he didn’t still enjoy torturing the others. Chase jumped the last few steps, in a good mood as he made his way out when he paused. He noticed the peeping blond and let out a chuckle causing Reid to turn back to him. Reid gave him a nod of acknowledgement like he hadn’t just been caught perving on Chloe. Chase shook his head in amusement, but continued on.

Chase smirked once more as he walked through the living room. He only gave a slight glance at the oblivious couple having sex a few feet away as he continued making his way through to the kitchen and out the door. He slid smoothly into his Mercedes and impatiently waited for the garage door to open. He sped away, reaching the city in minutes. He raced through the dead streets only stopping when he found a hot club to go to. It had been a while since he got laid; it was time to rectify that.

~

Caleb tossed and turned on his bed, trying to return to sleep. He had an 8am Chemistry Lab in the morning and he really wanted to be at least coherent for it. Unfortunately, that didn’t seem like it was going to happen. He winced as once again, he heard Chloe scream Alek’s name in release. He could Use to silence his room, but he didn’t like to use magic if it wasn’t an emergency. While listening to his best friend/ex-girlfriend/little sister have sex would normally count as one, he had the feeling that it wouldn’t matter. He was awake for good.

Grunting, Caleb climbed out of bed and wandered over to his closet and grabbed a pair of basketball shorts. Then he made his way to his desk to grab his arm band and slipped his iPod into it. He selected his workout playlist and slipped one of the buds in his ear as he threw sneakers on and made his way out the door. He barely avoided colliding into someone as he exited his room, “Sorry.”

“No, it’s my… fault,” Jasmine said, getting distracted as she noticed the half naked boy in front of her.

“You heard?” Caleb asked, an amused grin on his face.

Jasmine let out a light laugh, snapping out of her appreciative thoughts on Caleb’s body. “Yeah, it was kinda hard to miss.” She shook her head, “I don’t know how Amy and Paul slept through it. At first I thought maybe it was my sensitive hearing.”

Caleb shook his head, “Definitely not.”

Jasmine smiled up at his in response before noticing what he was doing, “You’re going running?” She asked.

“Yeah. Gotta get outta the house before I hear anymore,” Caleb smirked.

The girl hesitated for a moment, “Can I… come with?” When Caleb nodded, she let out a sigh of relief causing the boy to chuckle, “Gimme a second to change into some work out clothes, okay?” She said making her way back to Chloe’s room.

Her words made Caleb look down at what the girl was wearing. She was hardly dressed provocatively in shorts and a t-shirt, but she definitely filled the clothes out fantastically. Jasmine disappeared before returning a moment later in black running shorts and a tank top. She too had an iPod band strapped to her upper arm.

The duo made their way down the stairs only pausing when they noticed Reid peering into the living room. Jasmine made a disgusted face but Caleb rolled his eyes and reached out to hit the boy over the back of the head.

“Hey!” Reid whirled around, angry. That was the second time someone hit him.

“Go to bed, Reid,” Caleb commanded using the same voice he did when he made decisions as leader of the Covenant. Reid hesitated clearly debating on whether or not to fight Caleb on this, but remembering Caleb’s serious, commanding voice Reid decided to do as told.

Caleb paused to watch Reid trudge up the stairs, making sure the blond didn’t come back before turning back towards the door. He paused as he noticed Jasmine standing frozen, a look of complete horror on her face. He turned to look before wincing as well. It appeared Chloe and Alek were well on their way into the next round.

He reached out and grabbed Jasmine’s hand, dragging her from the house. They were halfway down the drive before she snapped out of it. Looking serious, she plugged her iPod in and began a light jog that easily matched Caleb’s long strides. Getting the clue, Caleb also stepped up his pace.

Soon, wide grins covered both of their faces as they ran, pushing their limits.

~

Amy and Paul yawned, getting up blearily to the sound of the alarm. They looked around in confusion, noticing that they were completely alone in Chloe’s room. This time the duo had come prepared and easily changed into their own clothes, Paul in the closet and Amy in the bathroom.

They hesitantly made their way downstairs, observing how creepily quiet the whole house was. Inside the dining room sat everybody, but no one was saying a thing.

Mimi looked a wreck, her eyes blood shot like she’d been crying. Jasmine was stealing glances at Tyler and Caleb, an oddly confused look on her face. Caleb was blatantly ignoring the awkwardness, reading the paper. Chase was smirking as he looked around at everyone’s features, his shoulders occasionally shaking in silent laughter. Pogue was watching Mimi looking for some sort of reaction, but not receiving any. Reid was leering down at Chloe, a wide grin of amusement on his face. Tyler, meanwhile, was blatantly looking anywhere but at Chloe and Alek. And of course, the couple was looking at the rest of them in confusion.

“What’s going on?” Amy asked, feeling like she was missing something big.

“That’s what I’d like to know,” Chloe scowled.

“Oh, I bet you would,” Reid grinned down at her appreciatively. Caleb sighed at his words but made no other indication that he was paying any attention to what was going on.

“What is that supposed to mean?” Alek asked, getting a little angry at Reid for flirting with Chloe.

“Nothing,” The blond spoke innocently before his gaze turned lecherous, “I just forgot what a screamer Chloe could be.”

Chloe and Alek froze as they realized what was going on. Amy’s mouth dropped and Paul’s eyebrows rose. “Shit,” Chloe muttered under her breath, “Sorry, guys. I really wasn’t thinking. I woke all of you up?” She asked apologetically, skipping past the awkwardness.

“Yes,” Tyler said looking nauseas, pushing his breakfast plate away from him, his food untouched, “Please, for the love of God, either fuck when we’re not around or use silencing spells.”

“There are silencing spells?” Paul asked, “Like Harry Potter!” He grinned.

The entire Covenant turned to look at Reid as the blond tensed. He shoved away from the table angrily and stalked up the stairs, returning to his room. “I sense an explosion on the horizon,” Pogue muttered.

“Well, it’s a good thing I won’t be here to witness it,” Chloe stood up, grabbing her messenger bag from the floor. But just after she said that a loud explosion came from the second floor as the entire house shook. The newcomers looked surprised and afraid, but the Covenant just shook their heads in resignation.

The new teens all jumped in surprise when suddenly they heard Reid shout, “HARRY POTTER CAN KISS MY ASS!” as more banging occurred followed by a second explosion.

“Too late,” Chloe muttered to herself as she made her way to her Audi and pulled out front to where the others were waiting. She’d hoped that she’d be able to leave before Mt. Garwin erupted. “I can take one of you and then the other two can ride with Amy and Paul?” She said acting like she didn’t notice how smoke was streaming from one of the second floor rooms. The teens nodded and, taking their cue from the strawberry blonde, acted like nothing was wrong, Chloe and Alek’s sexy rendezvous all but forgotten in Reid’s wake.


	21. Chapter 21

Chloe sighed as she spread out along the couch relaxing her muscles. All day, Amy had tried to corner her into telling her all the details of her night with Alek. Suffice to say the girl was severely disappointed when Chloe refused to talk. For the first time all week, Chloe didn’t have everybody over at her house, hanging out. Instead, Chloe was lounged about, seconds away from going to sleep.

She didn’t know how long she’d been snoozing lightly when she heard the opening of a door from the kitchen. Chloe blearily checked her cell phone and realized one of the boys must have come home from their classes. She looked up over the couch and noticed Caleb and Pogue in the kitchen. “Hey,” She muttered blearily.

The two boys turned around, surprised to see her there. “Were you sleeping?” Caleb asked, slightly surprised.

“Just a nap,” Chloe responded standing up and making her way over. She came up behind Caleb, who was sitting at the counter, and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, leaning into his back heavily. ”I feel like I should do something to celebrate my first week of classes.”

“Party?” Pogue asked as he grabbed a knife from the drawer and began cutting into an apple and eating.

Chloe shook her head, face still buried between Caleb’s shoulder blades, “No. Way too tired.”

“So what did you have in mind?” The boy beneath her asked before reaching out a hand toward Pogue in askance of a slice of apple. Pogue handed one over and Caleb reached back to wave it in Chloe’s face, allowing Chloe to take a bite before Caleb finished the rest of it.

“Dunno. Burger bar?” She answered hesitantly. Caleb and Pogue both tensed in hopeful excitement.

“Burger bar?” Pogue asked, also hesitant, not wanting to get his hopes up.

Chloe nodded more surely this time. Suddenly a voice was heard from the garage. “Did I hear the words burger bar?” Reid asked in excitement as he and Tyler burst through the kitchen door, “Sweet!”

“I’ll have to go shopping,” Chloe said finally lifting herself off of Caleb, “We don’t have enough ground beef and I need to pick up some peppers and cheese.”

Tyler nodded absentmindedly, already texting Chase the good news. Chloe was an amazing cook but she hated doing it. However, once every couple of months, Chloe got into a mood and decided to cook something for the boys. Her burgers were out of this world; especially her specialty burgers.

Chloe climbed into her car and drove to the grocery store. As she perused isles, she texted her friends inviting them to dinner.

‘I know you guys are probably sick of my face but burger bar @my place if you’re hungry.’

Immediately, she got a yes text from Paul. Soon after, Jasmine, Amy and Alek all responded with positive answers. The last one to agree was Mimi with a hesitant okay. Seeing that she had twice as many people, Chloe ended up turning around and buying twice as many ingredients.

She was just getting into her car when she received another text. This time it was from Alek asking if she could pick him up to talk. Chloe pursed her lips before agreeing. Apparently, it was time to define the lines.

“Hey,” Alek smiled slightly, sliding into her Audi.

“Hey,” Chloe replied passively, not giving anything away. Most of the ride was spent in awkward silence but as they left the city limits, Alek finally spoke up.

“About last night…” He trailed off awkwardly like he wasn’t sure what he wanted to say, “What did you think?”

“...” Chloe raised an eyebrow.

Realizing how his words could be interpreted, Alek gave a little laugh, “I meant, how do you see us after last night?”

“The same way I saw us after yesterday morning,” Chloe quipped.

“Which is to say…” Alek trailed off, hoping she’d continue.

“Undefined,” She answered bluntly, pulling into the garage. Before Alek could respond, she’d left the car, grabbed the groceries and headed inside.

Alek jogged after her, catching up to her just as she was setting the groceries on the counter. “Okay. So we’re undefined,” He said, standing across from her on the other side of the island as she worked methodically, sorting out her ingredients. “How do I change that?”

Chloe raised an eyebrow but didn’t look up from what she was doing. She was hesitant about having this conversation because she honestly wasn’t sure where she wanted to go with the boy. She liked him. More than she’d liked anybody since Chase, but that was the problem. Chase had really hurt her. Hurt her more than she thought possible and in a way that she’d never experienced before. Being hurt like that again… the idea terrified her. It had been almost a year since her relationship with Chase. Was she ready to let go and try again? More importantly, was Alek the person she wanted to try again with?

“I guess you’ll just have to ask me and pray you’ve impressed me enough in the few short days we’ve known each other that I agree to be your girlfriend.” She’d purposely worded her response to Alek with slight negativity, hoping that he’d leave the definition talk for later, but she hadn’t anticipated her own reactions to her words. Chloe’s heart skipped a beat as she said the word girlfriend out loud, causing her to momentarily pause in her cooking preparations. Was that a sign that she wanted to be Alek’s girlfriend? Maybe her heart knew what it wanted even when her head didn’t.

Not one to back down, Alek ignored her negativity and plowed ahead anyway. He reached over and grasped her hand and waited for her eyes to look up and meet his own “Will you be my girlfriend?” He asked seriously.

Chloe blinked, startled when her heart skipped a beat, yet again, at the word girlfriend. Then his words sank into her mind and she felt her stomach do a flip in nervous anticipation, “Yes,” She replied, barely aware of what she’d said.

Alek gave a slightly relieved grin as he made his way around the counter to plant a chaste kiss on her mouth. Chloe was still zoned out, surprised by her body’s reactions to his words and surprised by her own response, but then she began to smile. She was happy. She was genuinely happy.

~

“Well,” Pogue muttered from where he stood next to Caleb.

“I did not see that one coming,” Tyler muttered from where he was crouched. Chase nodded next to him, also squatting as all five boys spied on Chloe and Alek’s conversation.

“I thought she’d never get another boyfriend after what happened with Chase,” Caleb muttered, backing away. The rest of the boys followed, congregating in the foyer where they’d been huddled spying through the living room doorway.

“I don’t like it,” Reid muttered, folding his arms across his chest, but Caleb rolled his eyes.

“That’s because since Chase, Chloe’s been mostly yours,” Pogue pointed out, his skill with reading people showing through. Reid just scowled and turned away, his silence admitting the truth.

“I think this is good. Chloe’s been shying away from relationships because she’s been scared,” Caleb spoke, “She needs to get over that. She needs to learn how to dive back in. Alek could be good for her.”

“I’m with Reid,” Tyler spoke, a tinge of anger in his voice. All the boys except for Pogue looked at Tyler a little oddly. They knew why Reid was mad, but why was Ty?

Pogue answered their question, once again proving how well he understood people, “That’s because you’re still in love with her.”

There was an awkward silence as everyone processed what Pogue’s words meant.

“What?” Reid asked, completely shocked, “Man, I thought you got over that years ago. She’s you sister!”

“Not any more than she is yours,” Tyler spat defensively, bringing up his arms to fold them across his chest.

Caleb shook his head, “Baby Boy,” He said soothingly.

“Don’t get all condescending on me, Caleb!” Tyler yelled before lowering his voice before Chloe could get suspicious and come investigate, “It’s not like I want to still be in love with her, okay? I tried. I dated other girls. I watched her date other guys. But I still feel the same way now as I did when I was 13. I love her.”

Once again, silence reigned over the boys as they tried to process Tyler’s words. “Man, this is completely fucked up,” Reid muttered, running a hand through his hair. Chase let out a small chuckle at the blond’s words but no one made any other sound.

“What are you going to do?” Pogue asked calmly. He was the only one who knew that Tyler never really got over Chloe so he wasn’t shocked by the conversation like the others were.

“Same thing I’ve always done when it comes to Chloe,” Tyler scowled, “Absolutely nothing.”


	22. Chapter 22

Chloe smiled as Amy walked into the kitchen. She was the last one to show up to their burger night. By the second time someone had to open the front door for one of Chloe’s friends, they’d gotten annoyed and just left the front door wide open.

Chloe’s hands were deep inside a large mixing bowl, manually combining the ground beef, cumin and black pepper together. Now, all Chloe had to do was form them into patties and get them on the grill. Chase, Caleb and Pogue were outside trying to figure out how to work the grill. Pogue’s dad had bought it for them as a welcoming present for their new house. It was large, expensive and utterly confusing. It was a good thing Chloe had sent the ‘men’ out to get it started otherwise, she’d have spent the next to hours figuring out how it worked.

Once the meat was mixed together well, she washed her hands and put a plate over the bowl to cover it. Then she grabbed some olive oil, mushrooms, pepper jack, black pepper, a pan and a spatula and piled it on top. She lifted everything and paused as she balanced everything precariously.

Jasmine reached out and grabbed the olive oil, cheese and mushrooms while Alek got the last few things, earning them a grateful smile from the strawberry blond. The six teens trooped outside to the deck that connected to the kitchen. They set everything on the plastic outdoor furniture and turned to the boys.

Caleb was looking at some sort of German instruction manual, a befuddled expression on his face. Pogue was poking around behind the grill, a tick forming on the side of his face as he got more and more annoyed. Chase seemed to be giving Pogue suggestions instead of helping himself and Reid and Tyler just stood next to them laughing their asses off.

“How many warlocks does it take to turn on a grill?” Chloe asked with a smile, catching everybody’s attention, “None. They never figured it out. How many witches does it take to turn on a grill?” She moved towards them and leaned over the side of the stainless steel object, flipping on a switch, “One,” She grinned.

“How did you do that?” Pogue asked, completely surprised.

“I flicked a switch,” Chloe replied solemnly.

“No, seriously,” Caleb stepped in, “How did you do that?”

“No, seriously, I read the sign,” Chloe smirked back in amusement, pointing down. The three boys turned to look and sure enough on the side sat a switch with the words ‘On/Off’ written above it. “And this is why mom wouldn’t let you guys go off to college without me,” She teased knowing full well that the boys followed her to San Francisco, not the other way around.

“Fair enough, Baby Girl,” Pogue grinned, taking the teasing easily as he rested a hand on her shoulder.

Chloe reached over and felt the warmth of the grill. She grabbed her mixing bowl and set the plate aside. “So, who wants what?” She asked.

“Hawaiian,” Tyler announced with a grin.

“Double bacon spicy jack burger,” Pogue answered.

Reid nodded, “Same.”

“Double bacon mushroom jack burger,” Caleb responded also.

Chloe turned to her friends before realizing they looked confused. “Those are my specialty burgers. My Hawaiian burger has ham and pineapple, spicy burgers contain hot chili peppers, jack means pepper jack cheese, but we also have cheddar and mozzarella. Mushroom burgers have, well, mushrooms. You can have normal ones if you want. Or anything else you can think of that we have in the fridge.”

“I’ll try the Hawaiian, minus the ham please,” Amy offered tentatively.

“I’ll have what Pogue and Reid are having.” Alek loved spicy food.

Jasmine pondered for a moment, “Can I have what Caleb ordered?”

“What are you having?” Paul asked Chloe.

Chloe paused to think, “Don’t know yet. I’m thinking double spicy mushroom jack. I’m not a huge bacon person.”

“Huh,” Paul thought some more, “Can I just have a bacon burger with cheddar?”

While Chloe began her preparations, Caleb looked around the backyard. They were standing on a huge deck that attached to the entire back part of the house, including the garage. Where they were standing right now was directly behind the kitchen and consisted of a large outdoor grill. Next to the grill was a large fire pit. Behind the fire pit sat an outdoor dining set and next to the pit sat lounge chairs to curl up and relax on. On the right side of the deck was a large swimming pool which Reid was standing next to as he began to strip out of his clothes. Wait. What?

“Reid!” Caleb shouted, drawing people’s attention to the blond.

The blond paused as he moved to tug down his boxers, “Yeah?” He asked casually like he had no idea why he was in trouble.

Caleb pinched the bridge of his nose. He’d already been to the doctor’s twice this year and both times he was told that he had high blood pressure and chronic headaches due to stress. This was why he was stressed! “We have guests. Please keep your pants on,” Caleb spoke civilly, ignoring the way Chloe was giggling with Chase.

“But I want to swim. I haven’t done laps in ages,” Reid explained, also civilly which was a huge surprise since the two were typically at each others’ throats.

The older boy grit his teeth and pasted on a fake smile that looked more like a grimace, “Then go inside and grab trunks,” he suggested. The blond paused but did as told, shocking everybody.

“Okay, who was that? When did the pod person get here?” Tyler asked, looking at the door that Reid had just disappeared behind oddly.

“I don’t know but I think we should count our blessings,” Pogue smiled, “Last time Caleb suggested Reid put some clothes on, we had to stop the fight remember?”

Tyler began moving toward the kitchen door, “I think I’m gonna swim while we wait too.” Chase nodded and even Pogue and Caleb went into the house to change.

“Do you guys want to swim?” Chloe asked her friends but they all shook their heads.

“It’s cold!” Amy laughed, rubbing her arms for emphasis, “Won’t they get sick?”

Chloe shook her head, “Weather doesn’t bother die-hard swimmers like those guys.”

Paul nodded, “I forgot they were swimmers. National champs, right?” He recollected from the first conversation he had with Chloe. Chloe looked impressed, nodding.

“I’d rather stay here with you,” Alek whispered, coming up to the strawberry blonde from behind, wrapping his arms around her waist. She leaned back easily, getting comfortable in his embrace as she flipped a burger. She tilted her head to the side and let the boy lay butterfly kisses along her throat before they were interrupted by a squeal.

“You guys are so cute!” Amy smiled brightly before she got distracted, “Woah.” The five boys had returned, showing off their killer bodies. Reid and Tyler wore swim shorts, but Caleb, Pogue and Chase all wore the Speedos formerly required for the swimmers. “You got to spend the last four years looking at that?” Amy asked in awe, “So lucky.”

“Actually, I spent the last three years sleeping with that,” Chloe snarked.

Amy shook her head as if wondering what possible reasons Chloe could have had to break up with anyone that looked as good as them.

“Could one of you guys time us? It’s a ten lap race.” Caleb asked having missed the girls’ conversation. He held out a stop watch. Jasmine stood up and reached out for the watch.

“Sure,” She agreed easily, “I time Alek’s basketball drills all the time.” Caleb grinned widely in response, causing Jasmine’s breath to catch in her throat. Caleb was a really serious guy. It was rare to see him relaxed and laid back, which was a complete shame because his smile… Jasmine shivered a little. She wondered what she’d be willing to do to see that smile again.

Pogue, Tyler and Reid moved to the pool ledge and spread themselves out evenly. There wasn’t enough room for all five boys to race so Chase and Caleb, who were the best swimmers but also both free-stylers, sat on the side with their feet dipping into the water. Jasmine slipped off her shoes and sat at the corner next to Caleb, dipping her feet as well. She felt Mimi, Amy and Paul stand behind her, interested in watching the race. “Begin!” She announced. Suddenly, all three boys dove in with a loud splash. Pogue pulled ahead first but by the end of the fourth lap seemed to be losing steam with Tyler pulling in first.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Alek and Chloe giggling as the girl continued cooking. “Sickeningly sweet, aren’t they?” Caleb asked, nudging her a little. Jasmine turned back to the man, embarrassed to have been caught watching the couple. “He just asked her to be his girlfriend.”

Jasmine’s eyebrow rose and she felt Mimi stiffen behind her. “Really? That’s sort of surprising,” Jasmine said, “I don’t think Alek’s had a girlfriend since he found out he was Mai.”

Caleb blinked in response, “Chloe hasn’t had a boyfriend in a while either. Maybe this will be a good thing, then,” He said, mostly to himself. Suddenly, something caught his attention, “Oh. Looks like Reid’s doing his thing.” Jasmine turned her attention back the race to see that, at lap nine, Reid was pulling ahead. “Pogue starts out powerfully, but tends to wane. He’s better in a competition because the adrenaline pumps him up but in a friendly competition, he almost always loses. Tyler likes to conserve energy and ends up going the slow and steady route. While his competition is losing stamina, he’s still keeping pace. Reid, on the other hand, likes to save up and put on a burst of speed at the end, leaving his competition in the dust. He says it makes for a flashy finish,” Caleb explained as Reid won the race. Jasmine clicked the stop watch and memorized the numbers since she didn’t have any place to record them. “What are they?” Caleb asked, his cell phone in his hand. Jasmine read them out as Caleb recorded them. “Huh. Reid just set a personal best. He wasn’t kidding about being hyped up to swim.”

Caleb handed his phone to Jasmine as he and Chase simultaneously got up and moved to take the three boys’ place at the foot of the pool. They both looked at the girl. “Begin!”

Chloe sat down in Caleb’s place, Alek next to her. The couple hadn’t been separated the entire time Jasmine had been there today. “I thought you liked Tyler,” Chloe leaned over to whisper to the darker girl.

Jasmine began to blush a little, “What are you talking about?” She denied.

“You have a thing for Caleb,” Chloe smirked teasingly, “Its cool, though,” Chloe played off, looking at the girl out of the corner of her eye for Jasmine’s reaction, “I think Caleb likes you too.” A smile involuntarily made its way across the older girl’s face. “I knew it!” Chloe crowed quietly, not wanting to attract anyone’s attention, “You’re so into him!”

“Does he really like me?” Jasmine asked, giving in now that she was caught.

Chloe nodded easily, “Yeah, I’m pretty sure. I mean, he hasn’t said anything, but I know Caleb. This is actually really good. I had no idea how I was going to break it to you that Tyler isn’t interested. I’m starting to wonder if he’s gay…” Chloe muttered to herself.

Jasmine looked at Chloe oddly before focusing on the important part of the statement, “So you think he likes me. Do you think he’ll… I dunno, do anything about it?”

Chloe raised an eyebrow, “Like ask you out? Probably,” She admitted easily, “Caleb’s not exactly shy. I think he’s still feeling you out right now; trying to see if you’re interested, making sure there aren’t any huge, gaping personality flaws, you know. But yeah, he’ll probably ask you out soon. Maybe even tonight,” Chloe wiggled her eyebrows, “Caleb doesn’t show off half naked for just anybody,” She teased.

Once again, Jasmine blushed. She looked down and fiddled with the stopwatch. As Caleb and Chase came up on their last lap she pressed the button and recorded it on Caleb’s phone. She looked up just as the two swimmers were pulling themselves out of the water. Caleb had a wide grin on his face, having won the close race. He turned to look at Jasmine and gave her a wink, his smile growing bigger as she ducked her head slightly and blushed.

“Future Pride Leader brought to her knees by a boy with a charming grin,” Alek taunted, having heard the conversation and noticed the interaction, “What would Valentina say?”


	23. Chapter 23

“So, I kind of need a favor,” were the first words Chloe heard as she got into school the next morning. Chloe looked up from where she was shoving a book into her locker and stared at Amy, “My Dads want to meet you.”

“Meet me?” Chloe asked confused, resuming her earlier activity, “Why?”

Amy shrugged, “Well, I guess I’ve sort of been talking about you kind of non-stop. Plus, I’ve been spending a lot of time at your house and now I’ve started mentioning a bunch of new friends who I’ve met through you like Alek and your brothers… They just want to meet you,” she replied sheepishly.

The other girl sighed but nodded in understanding. She could see how Amy’s parents might want to meet their only daughter’s new friend and the massive amount of boys that seemed to come with her. “Sure. When?”

“Today after class?” Amy said, once again in a sheepish tone.

Chloe nodded, “Okay, but it kind of has to be quick. I’ve got Voice at six.”

“Voice?” the brunette girl asked in confusion as they made their way down the hall, “What’s that?”

“I told you how I’m doing an album, right? Part of our basement is a recording studio. Audrey, my voice coach, is driving up from LA to work with me so that I can finish some tracks. The record label is getting antsy with my lack of progress, but what do they expect? I just moved here like a week ago,” Chloe rolled her eyes at her overbearing bosses.

Amy reached out a hand and stopped the strawberry blonde in the middle of the hall. The girl’s eyes were wide with barely contained excitement, “Oh my God, you have to let me come.”

“Where?” Chloe asked in confusion.

The petite girl looked at Chloe like she was crazy, “To watch you sing!”

Chloe blinked in surprise, “Oh. Sure. Why?”

Amy shook her head, “I’ve spent my entire life dreaming of becoming a singer. I want to watch you do it.”

The other girl looked down at Amy, a contemplative look on her face before smiling, “Okay, we’ll go after I meet your dads.”

“I’ll call Paul. He can come too. Oh, and Jasmine…” Amy trailed off as she began speaking her thoughts out loud, totally forgetting about Chloe.

At the end of the day, Chloe and Jasmine decided to sit in the gymnasium to watch Alek’s practice. Jasmine had to wait for her cousin and Chloe had to wait for Amy to finish at choir practice.

“Are you coming also?” Chloe asked vaguely to the taller girl.

Jasmine turned to look at the girl, “To hear you sing? Yeah. And I know Alek wouldn’t miss it,” She teased, watching a light flush go up Chloe’s neck, “What’s going on with you two? Really.”

“He asked me to be his girlfriend yesterday,” Chloe confessed softly, “And I don’t know. At first I was terrified. Things have been going well between us and I didn’t want to rock the boat.”

“But?” Jasmine prompted, turning to face the girl fully, crossing her legs as she sat sideways on the bleachers.

Chloe turned and mimicked the position, “But when I thought about being his girlfriend… I don’t know. My heart like… skipped a beat.” Jasmine raised an eyebrow at the cheesiness even as a small smile took over her face. Chloe rolled her eyes, “I know. It sounds so stupid, but it felt like my heart knew even when my head didn’t. And then he asked and before I’d even realized it, I’d said yes.”

“That’s really great, Chlo,” Jasmine said sincerely, a hand reaching out to grasp Chloe’s arm. The action earned her a grateful smile.

“Talking about me?” an arrogant voice asked from beside them. While they’d been talking, basketball practice had finished. Chloe gave Alek an amused smile but tilted her face up towards the boy. Complying easily, Alek leaned down to give her a quick kiss, “I have to shower and change,” He motioned toward the locker room.

Chloe nodded in understanding and stood up with Jasmine, “We’ll meet you at the car,” She said easily, already heading down the bleachers.

As Chloe and Jasmine exited the school, they noticed a small gaggle of girls herding near the side of the school towards the road. Needing to get to her car, Chloe made her way through the crowd before pausing in surprise.

“Pogue?” Chloe asked, walking up to the man leaning against his motorcycle.

“Hey,” He nodded at her, not moving from his comfortable position.

“What are you doing here?” She asked, leaning next to him. Pogue opened his mouth to answer when something caught his eyes. Chloe turned and noticed Mimi leaving the school, “Ooh. Someone has a date,” Chloe smirked mischievously.

“Shut up,” He grumbled with no heat in his words.

Chloe paused for a moment before reaching into her bag and pulling out her car key. She dangled it in front of his face, “Wanna switch? You shouldn’t take a girl out on a motorcycle on the first date.”

Pogue raised a brow, “Seriously?”

“Pogue?” Mimi spoke from behind them both before Chloe could answer, “Hey.”

“Hey,” Pogue replied, snatching Chloe keys from her dangling fingers and tossing back his own, “Ready to get out of here?” He asked Mimi as he slid a hand to her back and led her to Chloe’s Audi.

Chloe smirked before picking up Pogue’s yellow helmet from where it rested on the back. She heard someone call her name and turned around to see Alek and the rest of her friends looking at her.

“Hey,” She said before turning to Amy, “I’ll follow you, okay?”

“Sure, but why do you have a motorcycle?” Amy asked.

“Pogue borrowed my car for a date. I don’t know why he didn’t just take the Escalade,” Chloe rolled her eyes, slinging her messenger bag over her shoulder and swinging her leg over the bike, “You coming?” She asked Alek before smirking, “Unless you’re one of those guys who gets embarrassed getting behind a girl on a bike,” She teased.

Alek raised an eyebrow before walking forward, aware of all the stares they were receiving from Pogue’s fan girls from before. He slid on behind her and took the yellow helmet with a slight wince of distaste before putting it on. Chloe reached into her purse and pulled on a large pair of sunglasses since Pogue didn’t carry an extra helmet. Finally she turned the bike on and smoothly followed after Amy, Paul and Jasmine in Amy’s Bug.

Amy pulled up to her house first. Her dads were already waiting for her on the porch. She was honestly surprised to see both of them since one of her fathers, Jacob, was a doctor and was on-call today. Her other father, Marcus, had a home internet business so she expected him. “Hey!” She waved enthusiastically up at them. San Francisco was in the middle of rolling hills and her house happened to be on one of them so even though she was in the driveway, she had to crane her neck in order to talk to her parents on the porch.

“Is this Chloe?” Marcus asked, nodding his head toward Jasmine who was climbing out of Amy’s car.

Amy shook her head, her day-old curls flying, “No, this is Jasmine. Chloe should be here-“ Her words were cut off as Chloe’s motorcycle appeared, driving up to park, “right now,” Amy finished lamely.

Alek swung his leg and hopped off the bike, taking off his helmet while Chloe kicked down the stand and shut the motorcycle off. She also got off the machine and secured the yellow helmet to the seat. Smiling, she looked up at Amy’s parents, “Hi! Sorry about that. Nice to meet you,” She said, seeing the disapproving looks on their faces, “My brother had a date, so I switched with him so he could take my car,” She explained. The men’s expressions lightened at the fact that the dangerous motorcycle wasn’t hers, but didn’t fade completely.

“Let’s go in, shall we?” Jacob offered, gesturing to the front door. Five teens trooped up the walkway stairs and into the house.

“You have a beautiful house,” Chloe offered generically, but something in her voice made it sound like it was her genuine opinion and not just something one said.

“Thank you,” Jacob nodded as they all got settled in the dining room, “So, why don’t you kids introduce yourselves. We were only expecting Chloe.”

“Sorry about that,” Amy said, “But we’re going to listen to Chloe sing later so we just decided to all come here together so we can follow her home.”

“You sing?” Marcus asked the strawberry blonde but before Chloe could answer, he interrupted, “No, sorry. Introductions first.”

“I’m Alek. I’m Chloe’s boyfriend,” Alek started, speaking sort of awkwardly. He hesitated slightly before saying the word boyfriend. This was the first time in a long time he’d been one.

“I’m Jasmine, Alek’s cousin and Amy and Chloe’s friend,” Jasmine smiled softly.

“And I’m obviously Chloe,” the girl finished, figuring Paul didn’t need to introduce himself, “And yes,” She turned to Marcus, “I sing.”

“Are you guys going to a karaoke night or something?” Jacob asked, knowing his daughter went to those frequently.

Amy grinned, “No, Daddy. Chloe’s recording some music for her album tonight and we’re going to go watch.”

Jacob and Marcus looked impressed but Chloe just looked uncomfortable. She shrugged slightly, “It’s something my agent wanted. I dunno,” She fidgeted awkwardly.

“You have an agent?” Jacob said while looking at Amy out of the corner of his eye, “We’ve been thinking about trying to get an agent for Amy, since she wants to become a singer.”

“Dad!” Amy gasped, eyes wide, embarrassed at what her dad was saying, “Don’t-“

Chloe interrupted, “You should. I haven’t actually heard her sing so I don’t know if she’s any good, but I can still put you in touch with some people. My agent’s great, but kinda pushy…” She trailed off before re-focusing, “I’m not sure if she’s taking on any more clients but she can definitely search around for a good agent for Amy. I was thinking about giving Amy Veronica’s number anyway,” Chloe pulled out her cellphone and began pressing some buttons, “I just texted you her number,” She told Amy, “Don’t call her until at least Monday so I have time to tell her that I gave you her number.”

Amy nodded in surprise. She knew Chloe was famous, but this made it suddenly seem very real.

“So, you’re recording an album?” Marcus asked, bringing the conversation back on track. While helping Amy was nice, the reason they were there was to get to know Chloe, “What kind of music will you be singing?”

“Rock mostly,” Chloe answered easily, “But I’m not entirely sure. I sent some songs I wrote to the label and the label sent me some songs they had rights to and I chose what I liked. I’ve sung quite a lot of songs already and we’ll just see what fits together.”

Marcus nodded understandingly, “And your family is okay with all of this?” He asked.

Chloe nodded easily, “My family’s the one who got me into the entertainment industry. They’re perfectly fine with me starting a music career.”

“Do you do other things besides sing?” Jacob asked, noting she said entertainment and not music.

“I’m a model,” she replied, “Have been since I was a kid. I act a little but because of school, I don’t get to do it as much as I like. Music was a compromise between me and my agent as a way of expanding my career without necessarily taking me out of school.”

“Your education is important to you,” Jacob nodded.

“I’m a teenager,” Chloe admitted easily, “Education doesn’t really rank on my list of priorities. But it’s important to my family, so it’s important to me.”

Marcus smiled at her honesty and loyalty, “Tell us more about your family. You have a brother?” He recalled.

“Sort of,” Chloe paused as she tried to explain her situation, “I was adopted by the Simms so I have one adoptive brother, Tyler. My family’s really close with a couple of other families and we all grew up together, so they’re like my family too. I call them my brothers, but they aren’t really.”

“How many brothers do you have?” Jacob asked.

“Five,” Chloe answered, smiling when Jacob and Marcus’ eyebrow raised, “Yeah. And I’m the youngest of our group so I get babied a lot,” She grinned, illustrating that she didn’t really mind.

“Five older brothers,” Marcus turned to look at Alek, “Brave man.” Alek let out a chuckle but otherwise said nothing.

“They haven’t been too hard on him actually,” Chloe’s eyes squinted, “Which is highly suspicious.”

Marcus laughed, “I’m sure they will be. I have a lot of siblings too. They were always minding my business. Still do actually.” Amy giggled at her father, well aware of what her aunts and uncles were like. “Tell us about your siblings.”

“Well, Chase is the oldest, but we didn’t always know him. He’s… uhm, illegitimate,” Chloe tried to explain without giving too much truth away, “We didn’t even know he existed until last year. So he didn’t grow up with us. But he’s a Putnam so he’s family,” She realized that didn’t make much sense, “What I mean is… Okay, our five families have been together since Europe; before we sailed to the New World, before we founded Ipswich, before everything. We thought the Putnam family died off hundreds of years ago but when we found Chase and realized he was a Putnam, we welcomed him even though we didn’t know him because he was a Putnam, you know?” Chloe gave a highly edited version, “It’s been drilled into our heads since we were kids. Five families – Our families. So Chase became family.”

Jacob smiled, “That’s an admirable quality your families have to take in a stranger like that due to history.”

Chloe shrugged, “Anyway, after that, there’s Caleb, Pogue, Reid and Tyler. And I also have sisters.”

“You do?” Amy asked in surprise. The other teens were also shocked. They knew about the boys, but this was the first time they’d heard about sisters.

Chloe nodded, “Yep. We haven’t really mentioned them, I guess. Probably because they’re either a little older or a little younger. The boys and I are in the same age group.” Marcus nodded in understanding. He was one of the younger siblings and was closer to them than his older siblings. Chloe continued, “Pogue’s sister Rebecca is a journalist up in Toronto. Essence is Reid’s older sister- he has a lot of sisters- and she’s studying at Oxford to be a linguist or some sort of translator. Honor is twelve and Justice is eight. They’re both Reid’s little sisters. Plus, Aunt Samantha is pregnant and we all think its gonna be yet another girl to torture Reid. And of course, little Victoria is seven and she’s Caleb’s little sister.”

“So how many siblings is that?” Alek asked, unable to keep track.

“Eleven,” Jacob kept mental track, “But that’s for five families, so that’s a little less crazy,” He smiled.

“Oh, I disagree. It’s plenty crazy,” Chloe smiled fondly.


	24. Chapter 24

Chloe led her friends inside the house and underneath the stairs to a door next to the first floor bathroom. The group’s footsteps were loud against the concrete stairs as they went down into the basement. At the end of the stairs was the gym which the boys used. Chloe had no plans to work out in there; there was no snow in California so she could always do her running outside. They made their way to the other side of the basement and there in the corner sat a sound booth.

The five teens walked into the room where Reid and a tall brunette woman were waiting. Reid was messing with several buttons and switches on the sound board and working on a laptop that was connected to the large machine.

“You’re late,” The woman spoke up sternly.

“Sorry, Ally,” Chloe smiled sheepishly. She had been working with Ally on her vocals for the last four months and the woman was strict about learning but loose about how.

“Let’s warm up,” Ally rolled her eyes, used to the younger girl’s antics. She completely ignored the other teens in the room, well used to the massive amount of people that wandered in and out as Chloe worked. Ally began making weird bird sounds garnering odd looks from Alek, Paul and Jasmine. Amy, on the other hand, understood how odd vocal exercises sounded. Soon, Chloe began mimicking Ally’s sounds. After a few minutes of this, Ally made an odd humming sound from deep in her diaphragm that Chloe also mimicked. The two alternated back and forth with the different sounds, sounding like some sort of weird bird mating call. Alek could barely hold his snickers in, but Chloe just gave him a quick glare before totally ignoring him. She was well aware how stupid she looked. “Okay, I think we’re in a good place. Pick an easy song.”

Chloe nodded, smiling. That’s what she loved about her coach. Ally made sure that Chloe did the work, but she still mixed it with fun, allowing Chloe to choose what songs she wanted to warm up with. The strawberry took out her iPhone and quickly scrolled through her library for something that caught her fancy. Picking The Last Summer by The Forward, she plugged in her earphones and got lost in the strumming of the guitar.

“There's sure to be two people more cooler than you or me/But I’m too inclined to think so/There comes a time when every man needs to step up and fight/At least it says that on my tattoo,” Chloe grinned, singing as she slapped her hand over her upper arm like she was covering a tattoo, “It’s the last summer so get out while you can, piranha/You’re swimming alone/The air is thicker; let’s drink up all our parent’s liquor/You’re driving me home. Don’t even trip on the denizens of hip/Because we know the things that you don’t know/We are the guys that stand behind the guys that stand behind you at shows,” Chloe once again used her hands to illustrate exactly how many rows behind “you” the guys of her song were sitting, “It seems to me there's responsibility to make, make appropriate exits/I don’t want to be lonely like the people I have sex with, accept this.”

Ally cut her off before she could move on to the next verse, “Okay, good. Back to the exercises.” The duo ran through more crazy sounds before once again, Ally changed tactics, “Okay, now pick a song to test out your vocal range.”

Once again, Chloe scrolled through her music, stopping on a soundtrack playlist, “Someday, I’ll let you in/Treat you right/Drive you out of your mind/Ooh,” She wiggled her eyebrows playfully at Alek garnering herself a grin of amusement, “You never met a chick like me/Burn so bright/I’m gonna make you blind. Always want what you can’t have/But is it so bad if you don’t get what you wanted/Make you feel good/As I’m with you/Let me shape you/Let’s get it started. Give it up/You can’t win/’Cause I know where you’ve been/Such a shame you don’t put up a fight/That’s a game that we play at the end of the night,” This time Chloe winked at Alek saucily. Alek leered back, clearly getting her hint about night time games, “It’s the same old story/But you never get it right/Give it up. Come a little closer/Baby, baby,” the strawberry blonde crooked her finger at her boyfriend while moving towards him, “Come a little closer/Come a little closer/Baby, baby. So stop trying to walk away/No, you won’t ever leave me behind/Noo. You better believe that I’m here to stay/’Cause you’re the shade and I’m the sunshine. Oooh.

Look at me boy ‘cause I got you where I want you/Isn’t it so exciting/Wanna shake you/Wanna break you/Take a backseat, boy/’Cause now I’m driving,” Chloe gave a smirk at the idea of making Alek take a backseat to her, “Give it up/You can’t win/’Cause I know where you’ve been/Such a shame/You don’t put up a fight/That’s a game that we play at the end of the night/It’s the same old story/But you never get it right/Give it up/Wooahh ohh yeah!/Oh, oooh/Uh-huhh/Hey yeah yeah yeah ooooh,” Amy, Jasmine and even Alek and Paul all raised impressed eyebrows as Chloe hit the high notes. “Come a little closer/Come a little closer/Baby, baby/Come a little closer/Come a little closer/Baby, baby/Come a little closer/Come a little closer/Baby. Yeah, you are my baby and I make you crazy tonight,” Once again Chloe winked at the sexy hint, “Look at me boy ‘cause I got you where I want you/Isn’t it so exciting/Wanna shake you/Wanna break you/Take a backseat, boy/’Cause now I’m driving. Give it up/You can’t win/’Cause I know where you’ve been/Such a shame you don’t put up a fight/That’s a game that we play at the end of the night/ It’s the same old story/But you never get it right/Give it up/Ooh, yeah.”

“Good job,” Ally smiled, “A little weak in the beginning but you definitely warmed up your range. Good song,” She said impressed, “What is it?”

“Victorious soundtrack,” Chloe admitted a little embarrassed, “I love that song. Give it Up.”

Ally nodded approvingly, “Well, you’ll have to remember it when you go on tour later.” Amy let out a squeak at the word ‘tour’ while Chloe just nodded in agreement. “Well, I think you’re set. Get in there,” the brunette nodded her head at the sound booth before picking up her bag, “I’m done here.”

Chloe smiled and reached out to hug the other girl, “Bye. Have a safe ride back to LA.” As Ally disappeared up the stairs, she answered her friends’ looks, “The label charters a chopper to get Ally back and forth when I need her,” She shrugged. Amy and Paul looked a little stunned but Alek and Jasmine were well used to the luxuries money offered. Chloe turned to look at Reid, “Ready?” At the boy’s nod she turned back to explain again, “Reid does my producing. He’s awesome.”

“You do know that they can’t hear you record, right?” Reid asked.

The girl tilted her head in confusion, “What do you mean?”

“Part of our agreement with the label which allows you to record and produce here instead of at the studio is that you aren’t allowed to let anyone listen to you as you record. I can because I’m mixing the tracks and Caleb can because he’s your manager…” Reid trailed off.

“Since when do we listen to what the label says?” Chloe asked the bad boy incredulously, “The others listen to me all the time.”

Reid shrugged, “I know. I’m just saying,” He gave Chloe a meaningful look. Just because the group became fast friends with Chloe, didn’t mean they were trustworthy. She hadn’t even known them a week.

Chloe interpreted the look perfectly and sighed. Reid was rarely ever serious, but when he was, he knew his shit and people paid attention to his opinions. She turned to her friends, “I’m sorry, guys.”

“That’s okay,” Amy hurried to reassure, “We got to hear you warm up. That was cool enough.”

Reid offered a compromise, “You’re interested in the music business, right? You can still stay and I can show you my side of things. And you can see what it takes to make a track. I think it would be okay for you to hear snippets, just not the entire song. And you can’t record anything, obviously. We can’t have anything leaked on the internet.”

After the others agreed, Chloe went into the sound booth and Reid plugged in large headphones so that he could hear her. Based off the strawberry blonde’s hand gestures and soft swaying, the others figured the song was slow and probably sad.

Reid pressed a button and suddenly the others could hear Chloe singing, “…to come around.”

“Take that verse again,” Reid interrupted before releasing the button. Chloe nodded and repeated herself. Once again, Reid pressed the button, “Again. Put more emotion into it. You’re sounding flat.” Chloe let out a sigh, but complied, trusting Reid’s ears. Reid got all the creative genes in the family: music, art, literature.

This time as Chloe finished, Reid had nothing to say so she continued singing. After finishing up, she cocked an eyebrow, waiting for Reid’s approval. He pressed the intercom button, “You’re good. What’s next?” He asked before releasing the button. Chloe answered with something only Reid could hear and he began typing something into the computer. Chloe began to hear some basic music and her lyrics coming from her headphones. Her head began bobbing as she sang along.

“I had no idea recording songs took this long,” Jasmine spoke up over an hour later.

Reid nodded distractedly as he worked. Chloe had just finished up her fourth song and was now lounging on the couch, resting across Alek’s chest. Alek’s fingers ran through her curls softly, lulling her to an almost-sleep.

“Okay,” Reid announced, “Chlo.”

Chloe got up and put his headphones on as she began listening to snippets of the songs she just recorded and the way Reid messed with them. He head began nodding, a grin worked its way onto her lips, “I love the beat on this one.” The music switched to the next song and Chloe listened for a moment before her face scrunched up, “This song’s really soft and I feel like having both the guitar and the piano is taking away from it. Maybe only one?” She asked Reid. Reid nodded, writing down her thoughts to go through later. “The last two songs are perfect,” She finished.

Reid nodded seriously, “Okay. You want to do more?”

Chloe grinned, “I could go a couple more rounds.” She turned to her friends, “If you guys are bored, you can go. I know that Reid’s not very good company when he’s working. Sometimes I forget how serious he can get,” She looked over her shoulder to smile teasingly at the blond.

“I think I’ll head out,” Jasmine smiled apologetically. Sitting for another two hours to watch someone sing silently was not her idea of fun. Alek opted to stay, as did Amy. Paul wanted to leave but Amy forced him to stay with her.

Grinning, Jasmine left the sound booth and headed up the stairs to the main floor. She had just made it to the front door when she heard someone calling her name from behind her. She turned around to see Caleb coming down the stairs, a smile on her face.

Jasmine unconsciously smiled back, her cheeks turning a little red. She looked self-consciously down at her outfit. She had taken Chloe’s advice and begun wearing clothes with a hint of interest. Her [dress ](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/00047e1t)was short, stopping at her upper thighs and the sleeves went to her elbow with a black fringe down to her wrist. The interesting part about her dress was its beautiful print design.

Jasmine self-consciously tried to tug the hemline a little further down. Caleb caught the motion and a grin crossed his lips briefly, fading quickly before Jasmine could see it. “I was hoping to catch you before you left,” He said, looking down at her. He was slightly surprised by how much he had to crane his neck down. She was surprisingly short. Jasmine gave off an air of power and confidence that made her seem larger than life, but looking down at her, Caleb estimated her to be 5’7 with her heels on. Without them, she’d probably be at about 5’3. He raised an eyebrow in surprise. Catching the look, Jasmine looked away, feeling awkward. Seeing that he was making her uncomfortable, Caleb decided to skip the lead up and just dive in, “What are you doing tomorrow night?”


	25. Chapter 25

“This was a good idea,” Chloe smiled as they sat on a bench overlooking San Francisco Bay.

“Of course. Any idea involving spending time together is a good idea,” Alek grinned arrogantly as he took a bite out of his chocolate covered frozen banana with sprinkles. He’d never had one before but Chloe was apparently addicted.

The strawberry blonde rolled her eyes, nibbling on her own banana, hers with nuts instead of sprinkles. “Remind me why I’m going out with you again?” She asked rhetorically.

“Because I’m hot, smart, strong, fast and over all completely awesome,” Alek chuckled.

Chloe smiled too, “You’re lucky modesty does absolutely nothing for me or you’d be in some trouble.” The duo chuckled companionably as they relaxed together. They hadn’t spent that much time together alone. Usually, any time spent together was spent in a group setting, usually with her brothers. That kind of thing can put a crimp in any relationship.

Chloe blinked in surprise when a hand made its way in front of her face. She traced it up to see Alek’s smiling face. Returning his smile, she placed her own hand in it and let him pull her to her feet. They began to walk along the boardwalk, hands still entwined. As they made it back to the pier where they started their journey, instead of returning to Chloe’s car, Alek dragged her to the shopping area.

Alek smirked and took a picture of Chloe as she made an exaggerated kissing face from underneath her absurdly large hat. She grinned and took the hat off, returning it to the vendor before distractedly taking out her ringing cell phone. She didn’t recognize the number but knew it was a San Francisco area code. She held out a finger to Alek, asking him to hold on a minute as she took the call.

“Hello?” Chloe asked curiously. Her smiling face quickly became serious as she listened in on the other end. After several minutes she hung up and pressed her phone to her mouth thoughtfully.

“Everything okay?” Alek asked.

Like a light switch, Chloe’s faced changed. She looked at him happily, “Yep. Just got a weird phone call.” She moved down the rows of vendors, shaking off Alek’s worried glance.

~

“Study. Now,” Chloe commanded, walking into the house. She had previously texted all of her brothers and told them to meet her at home. They followed the tense girl through the library into the small room in the back, “Our little Order spy Simone called me with an update this afternoon,” She said once everyone sat down.

“What?” Caleb asked in surprise before remembering the redheaded woman that Chloe, Reid and Pogue had dealt with as the Covenant negotiated with the San Franciscan Mai, “What did she say?”

Chloe shook her head, “Not much. Just that the Order was getting close to discovering the Uniter,” She said significantly.

“That Rezza kid?” Pogue asked gruffly, getting over-protective.

Chloe tilted her head in thought, “Maybe. We’ve been texting a little.”

“Make plans with him for tomorrow,” Caleb spoke up, “We’ll keep an eye on you. Let’s see how this pans out. It could be nothing.”

~

“When you said ‘it could be nothing’ I thought for sure it would be something,” Pogue muttered absentmindedly fiddling with a fork.

“Yeah,” Reid nodded, “That’s on the list right after ‘trust me, I know what I’m doing’.”

Tyler let out a small snore as he dozed into his plate. They had been sitting at the restaurant all morning. Chloe and Brian were across the street at the coffee shop talking and had been for the last three hours.

“Isn’t she done yet?” Chase asked, staring up at the sky.

“Nope,” Reid replied, popping the ‘p’. “Can’t we just go?”

Caleb shook his head, “We need to stay and make sure. What happens if we leave and something happens to Chloe?” Tyler let out a harsh snore. “Uhm, exactly,” Caleb finished hesitantly.

~

“How did it go?” Jasmine asked quietly as she pretended to look at a dress near Chloe.

“Good in the sense that absolutely nothing happened,” She replied absentmindedly, slipping on a [beige Doma jacket](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/0004fqd3/s640x480) and turning to the mirror, “The boys were kinda pissed that they wasted their entire morning,” Chloe shrugged out of the jacket and held it out for Jasmine instead.

Taking the jacket, Jasmine switched places with Chloe to stand in front of the mirror, “It’s not like you could have known that it would be a bust.”

“I like it,” the strawberry blonde decided.

Jasmine took a minute to look at herself, “Me too,” She smiled adding it to the pile of leather jackets they had already made, “So, if nothing happened then are we discrediting Simone’s tip?”

Before she even finished her sentence, Chloe was already shaking her head, “No. It could still be Brian and he just hasn’t made a move yet. On the other hand, they could be totally off and stalking some poor person they think is the Uniter.”

“I hope so,” Jasmine replied as the two girls rung up before moving to the chairs to wait for Amy and Mimi to finish their own shopping, “So what’s your photo shoot for?” She asked, changing the topic.

“It’s a photo shoot and an interview,” the strawberry girl explained as she pulled out her phone to check the time, “And it’s for some magazine. Nylon, I think.”

The darker girl smiled, “Sounds exciting. What are they going to ask you, do you know?”

“Mostly about my music,” Chloe smiled, “They didn’t send a list of their questions- which, they don’t have to- but they did say that the interview would be focused on my music.”

Amy and Mimi walked up to them, both holding their own bags, “Hey, we’re ready!” the smaller girl smiled.

Once again checking the time, Chloe stood up, “Let’s head to the park. It’s almost time.” The four girls walked to the Escalade that Chloe had borrowed knowing that they would all need the extra room for their shopping bags. The park was close so after what felt like no time at all, everyone was piling out of the car and heading toward the fountain in the center. The boys all stood there waiting.

Chloe was about to open her mouth to call out a greeting when she was unceremoniously grabbed and dragged to wardrobe, which basically consisted of three racks of beautiful clothes cordoned off by a flimsy barrier. Picking several dresses, she was then tugged to the make up chair where three people began to ceremoniously fuss over her hair, nails and makeup. Then, once her eyelids were dark and smoky, her nails red and her hair slicked back into a harsh pin straight pony tail, she was pushed back into wardrobe where she donned her first dress, a dark red [Azzedine Alaïa dress](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/00049yga) with a fluffy skirt and matching dark red stiletto booties.

Chloe walked out confidently, aware of the stares she was receiving from her friends and those passing by, “Where do you want me?” She asked the photographer. When the photographer made a grunting sound, she took the initiative and climbed onto the fountain ledge. He began taking pictures, only making a sound when he wanted her to move. It was actually a very quick process and in a little over twenty minutes she was back in wardrobe changing outfits.

This time, Chloe walked out in a light peach colored strapless [Badgley Mischka](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/0004az8y) with a large bow over the bust. Her eyelids were a matching peach and her nails done in a simple French manicure. Her shoes were black pointed toe pumps and her hair was wildly curled. She sat on the fountain edge and began going through a series of sitting poses.

Her third dress was a navy [Elie Saab](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/0004bbct) that plunged so deeply she heard Alek choking on the other side of the shoot. Her face was bare except for dark blue eye shadow and her nails matched. Her shoes, a navy blue platform pump, were encrusted with rhinestones at the toes. Smirking, Chloe used the park’s walkways like a catwalk and owned them.

Lastly, Chloe donned a white [floor-length Carlos Miele](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/0004cz2w) that wrapped around her neck. This had to be her favorite dress out of all of them. She had natural make up, a French manicure and strappy white high heel sandals. She knew what she wanted to do for the photo shoot, but she was truly loathed to do it. She was allowed to keep the clothes she picked and she really loved this dress… but work came before her wants and she could always purchase her own copy of the dress.

Carrying her shoes in one hand, she jumped into the fountain amidst gasps of surprise. The photographer finally spoke, “Brilliant,” he grinned as he began taking pictures as Chloe played in the water, careful only to get the bottom of the dress wet so that it didn’t become see through.

Chloe was drying off and changing in the wardrobe room when Caleb walked in, “Hey,” she greeted over her shoulder as she adjusted her bra, “What’s up?”

“I wanted to ask if you were planning on going out with Brian still,” Caleb answered.

Chloe opened her mouth to answer, but was interrupted by an angry growl, “Brian?” Alek asked. He had come in when he noticed Caleb going inside the cordoned off room, “Who the hell is Brian?”

Noticing the tense atmosphere, Caleb back up, “I’ll let you two talk,” he muttered before practically running out of the room.

“Well?” Alek asked impatiently.

Chloe threw her shirt on over her head before turning to face her boyfriend fully, “Brian is a boy I met who asked me out,” she started. Seeing Alek about to explode, she hastily continued, “I was uninterested until I realized who he was. His father is the leader of the San Franciscan faction of the Order,” she murmured softly in case anyone was listening, “I’ve been dating him in order to gain information on the Order.”

“WHAT?” Alek yelled, angrier than Chloe had ever seen him, “Do you know how dangerous that is? What if you’d been hurt or kidnapped? We’re your protectors; you should have told us!”

Chloe hesitated to tell him that Jasmine knew. He was already mad at her; no need to add Jasmine to the mix also, “I’m sorry, but I’m not defenseless and I told the boys. I can handle myself.” Just then her phone began to ring. Looking down, she noticed it was Brian.

Sensing this, Alek sneered, “Brian? Just what exactly have you been doing with him to get him to give you information?”

Chloe stared at him in disgusted horror, “Excuse me?”

Shaking his head, Alek scoffed and stormed out. Chloe sat down on her chair. Were they over?


	26. Chapter 26

Chloe chewed on her lip nervously as she headed into school that morning. Her outfit reflected her mood with a [muted blue Chic & Mitt rolled tab tiered dress](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/0005ps38), brown leather [Ariat cowboy boots](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/0005q5we) with a matching blue design and a Sparkle & Fade [brown leather jacket](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/0005r4c6). She wasn’t sure where she and Alek stood with each other and that made her nervous. She really liked him, but he completely flipped out on her. How could he be upset with her for seeing Brian when she was only using him to gain information on the Order? Alek was the one she chose to be with.

She stopped at her locker and fiddled with the combination. After a few failed attempts, she allowed her eyes to flash with magic, the lock clicking open. She was too distracted to even bother. She had even rescheduled her interview yesterday after her fight with the Mai boy. She needed to know what was going on with him. Resolved to find out, she grabbed her books and purposefully made her way to her first class knowing that it was near Alek’s locker.

As she climbed the stairs, she heard a familiar chuckle. Craning her head, she saw Alek talking with some teammates in the stairwell. She opened her mouth to say something to him when he seemed to notice her. Immediately his posture became tense and his eyes narrowed in anger.

Jaw clenching, Chloe purposefully turned her head, snubbing him as she headed into her class. Fine. If that was how he wanted to play things then that was how they would play things.

She spent the entire school day fuming. All her friends knew better than to talk to her, even Amy, who usually took any opportunity to blather on about something, stayed silent as the trio picked at their lunch at a small Chinese place a few blocks from school.

In class and in study hall, Chloe studiously avoided so much as looking at Alek so it wasn’t until she was leaving school that she saw him again. She froze as she noticed her boyfriend – ex-boyfriend – oh, who even knows? – standing by the exit, leaning over Mimi, flirtatiously playing with the brunette’s hair. Mimi fidgeted uncomfortably, but made no move to stop him. A pang went through her heart at the sight. She had opened herself up to him, really started caring for the first time since Chase, and this is what he did to her? And as if that wasn’t bad enough, he was bringing Mimi into it. He knew that Pogue was starting something with the Mai girl and yet Alek was still hitting on her.

A scowl firmly planted on her face, she walked by the couple as she exited the building, blatantly ignoring them as well as Paul and Amy who were also nearby, apparently watching the drama unfold. “Jackass,” Chloe muttered under her breath as she quickly walked down the stairs, heading straight for her car. Unfortunately, she forgot about the Mai’s superior hearing.

“What was that?” Alek asked angrily as he cornered her at her car.

Her scowl grew deeper as she turned to face him head on. “I called you a jackass,” she replied easily.

His lips pulled back in anger, his teeth bared like an animal. “You date someone else behind my back and I’m the jackass?” he snarled.

Chloe vaguely realized that their friends were surrounding them, listening in, but also keeping outsiders from eavesdropping and gossiping about the fighting pair. “I wasn’t dating Brian!” she exploded, throwing her hands up, nearly whacking him in the face with her limbs. “He’s a source. I’m using him for information. That is all!”

“Yeah, I’m sure that’s all,” Alek sneered.

The strawberry blonde crossed her arms over her chest defensively. “What is that supposed to mean?”

Alek’s sneer deepened. “Just wondering what else you were using him for,” he shrugged casually.

Everybody gasped in shock at what he was implying. Amy looked about ready to slap him, Paul was holding the girl back, but his face said he was clearly debating on whether or not to let her go and even Mimi looked surprised at what Alek was implying.

“You are not one to talk about using people,” Chloe spoke through clenched teeth.

Alek crossed his arms. “Oh, what is that supposed to mean?” he asked angrily.

“It means that you know that Mimi still has feelings for you and you’re blatantly using her to hurt me. You’re toying not only with my feelings, but hers as well.” Chloe stated. “I may have used Brian for information, but I never so much as flirted with him. We had coffee. Once. And I told him that I was only interested in being his friend. I’m only using him to get information for a greater purpose. You are using Mimi, your friend, because what? You’re jealous? You’re hurt? You’re angry?” Chloe listed in a degrading tone, purposely talking down to the boy as if he was a child. “What kind of person does that to their own friend?” she asked, shaking her head in disappointment. She let out a deep breath before continuing, this time in a calm even tone. “I wasn’t sure what was going on with us. I didn’t know if we were fighting or broken up, but now I do. I can’t be with someone who treats other people like that. I thought I knew you. I guess I was wrong.” Before Alek had a chance to speak, Chloe had already climbed into her car, ignoring him once more as she backed out of her parking space and drove off.

By the time she’s reached her house, Chloe was positively melancholic. She trudged into the house, throwing her bag onto the couch and collapsed on it in a heap. She was vaguely aware of Pogue and Reid playing a video game, but ignored them.

“Are you okay, Baby Girl?” Reid asked as he paused the game to move over by her. He checked her forehead for a temperature, wondering if she was sick. “You feel fine.”

“M’not sick,” she muttered. “M’sad.”

“Sad?” Pogue asked, coming to sit by her as well. “What happened? You didn’t work things out with Alek?”

Chloe turned around so that she was lying on her back, looking up at the two boys. “I broke up with him,” she admitted. She wanted to tell them everything, but she also knew that Pogue liked Mimi and she didn’t want to hurt him. However, honesty was important in their family so she told them both everything.

“I’m gonna kill that fucker,” Reid scowled. He would have stood up and gone to actually commit said murder, but sometime during the story, Chloe had splayed her body out over the top of both of their laps. Probably because she knew this was exactly how they would react.

Chloe shook her head, not moving it from where it was rested against Reid’s shoulder. “I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to think about it. I just want it to go away. I need a distraction,” she admitted softly, a sigh escaping her lips.

“You’re filming that commercial for Dior tomorrow,” Pogue reminded as he continued to massage her feet, trying to relax her, but also to get his focus off something other than Alek and Mimi. “That will take your mind off things.”

Chloe felt an involuntary smile cross her lips which Reid immediately noticed. “You’ll get to show off your acting chops,” he prodded teasingly, knowing how much she really enjoyed acting.

“It’s a 3 minute commercial,” she replied negatively, but the smile on her lips indicated that she was still very excited.

“It’s three 3 minute commercials which means a total of about ten minutes of screen time. Besides, do you really care how long it will be? Acting is acting and you’ll be doing it for Dior,” Pogue emphasized. “And in French.”

Her smile turned amused at his words. “I do love the French language.” This was a blatant lie and they all knew it. French was one of the first languages they learned back at their old school and while Chloe was particularly good at it, she certainly didn’t love it. Not to say that she disliked it, but it wasn’t her favorite language. Nevertheless, it was one of her better ones.

“Do you need to practice?” Reid asked, seeing that Chloe was well on her way to being completely distracted from her Alek situation.

Chloe laughed. “I’ve got like three lines.”

“All done in French or in a heavy French accent,” Pogue reminded once more. “Plus there is the actual acting part, obviously.”

She nodded in consideration. It wouldn’t hurt to practice… “Okay, I need one of you to help me,” she admitted. Pogue and Reid looked at each other and apparently communicated with their eyes because when they looked back at her, Reid was the one nodding in agreement. Chloe smiled cheerfully and got up, grabbed his hand and dragged him upstairs to her room. She picked up a small stack of papers with the title “A Little Love Thing” from her desk and handed them to Reid. “This is the script. I don’t really do anything in the second commercial except pretend to sleep. And I think you’ll like helping me with the other two,” she smirked playfully as she gave him a minute to read. She knew when he got to the third commercial because his eyebrow popped up in surprise.

“Okay, you are so practicing the third one. Right now, in fact,” Reid grinned lecherously as he looked up and down her body.

“How ‘bout ‘no’,” Chloe replied with a smile. “We’ll start with the first one.”

The two situated themselves in the middle of her room, Reid checking his lines in the script before tossing it onto the bed. He raised an eyebrow at her and she nodded, signaling that she was ready. Reid walked toward her and kissed her on the cheek before getting distracted, his face leaning into her neck as he took a small sniff before moving upwards to give her a passionate kiss.

“Votre travail? (Your job?)” Chloe asked once they separated for air, the breathless quality in her voice not as faked as she would have expected.

Reid reached up to cup her cheeks, looking her directly in the eyes as he spoke, “Je vais téléphoner à malade pour vous. (I will call in sick for you.)” Then he reached down for another quick kiss before making his way back to her neck, spreading butterfly kisses.

Chloe turned her head, seemingly to give him more access, but looked straight ahead toward where the imaginary camera would be. “Love comes first,” she said in a heavy authentic French accent. “J’adore. Dior.”

At that, Reid stopped his trail of kisses up and down her neck and leaned back to look down at her. They were still very close and for a moment, something passed through both of them as they locked eyes.

Chloe let out a small cough as she forcefully drew her gaze away. “Okay, onto the next one,” she grinned.


	27. Chapter 27

Chloe yawned as she blearily opened her eyes. For a second, confusion made its way across her face as she took in the slumbering form next to her. Recognition passed through her eyes as she recalled practicing her lines late into the night with Reid before falling asleep together.

Checking her phone, she noted the early time. For some reason, whenever she had to wake up early for something, her internal clock always made sure she was awake, no alarm necessary.

Tiptoeing into her closet, she picked out some comfy-wear before quietly making her way to the bathroom for a quick shower. Not bothering with any makeup or hair products, she let her wet hair air dry as she slipped on her favorite pair of purple NYU pajamas that Reid got her and an old ratty Harvard t-shirt that she stole from Caleb years ago.

She moved back over to the bed to peer down at Reid’s still sleeping form. She sat on the edge and gently, she reached out and touched his shoulder. “Reid. Wake up,” she murmured softly knowing that Reid was both a light sleeper and a morning person.

“Mmm?” he mumbled as he turned over to face her.

“It’s time for us to go. I have my commercial in LA today, remember?” she reminded gently as she watched for coherency in his eyes. Finally seeing some, she gave a smile as she stood up. “I’ll go wake up Chase. You go ahead and shower or whatever.”

She walked across the hall and repeated the same actions with Chase. Like Reid, he was a light sleeper though he didn’t like mornings. She went back into her room and grabbed her purse from her desk, stuffing her iPhone and iPad into it before reaching down and grabbing her pillow off the bed. She heard the doorbell ring and trooped down the stairs carrying her things.

“Hello!” Chloe grinned brightly, in a great mood as she opened the door. That smile quickly fell along with the excitement she felt for the commercial when she saw who was on the other side.

“Hey,” Jasmine smiled back, looking oddly between Chloe and Alek, sensing the tense mood.

Alek scowled, crossing his arms over his chest. “Why are we here?” he asked rudely.

Chloe clenched her teeth before forcing herself to calm down. She was working today. She couldn’t allow her anger and hurt to affect her or her acting. She needed to compartmentalize her feelings and focus on her acting. “I have an acting gig in LA. I know that you guys have to follow me around because you’re my protectors so I called Jasmine. I didn’t realize you would be coming as well,” she replied calmly.

“What are you doing?” Jasmine asked kindly, trying to keep the mood upbeat.

“She’s the face of J’adore,” Reid spoke up from behind them, a pillow under his arm. He wore baggy grey sweatpants and a faded orange t-shirt. Behind him was Chase in his usual blue jeans and a Henley shirt. “We gotta jet, Baby Girl.”

Chloe reached down to grab her purse and her own pillow as the three herded outside and toward the garage. They climbed into Caleb’s mustang having already received permission to borrow it for the long six hour trek into the City of Angels. There was a moment of awkwardness as both Chloe and Alek reached for the same door, but upon realizing that Chloe would be sitting in the back, Alek immediately switched with his cousin so that he would be sitting up front.

Scowling, Chloe tried hard not to let the snub affect her as she climbed into the back, Reid on her left and Jasmine on her right. In a well practiced motion, both she and Reid put their pillows side by side and laid into each other, propping each other up. Normally, the two would fall immediately into a deep sleep, but the weird vibes in the car caused Chloe to stay awake. How was she supposed to concentrate on her acting if Alek was watching her? Probably criticizing her or insulting her or…

Chloe’s thoughts cut off as she felt Reid slip his hand into hers. She looked to the side to meet his serious grey eyes. “Block it out,” he spoke lowly.

Taking a deep breath, Chloe closed her eyes and did just that. Forcing her anger into the deepest recesses of her mind, she focused on serenity as she slowly drifted off, Reid’s hand clutched tightly in her own.

Chloe jolted awake at the sound of a car horn. Looking around, she recalled that she was in a car on her way to Los Angeles. “I take it we’ve hit LA traffic?” she asked rhetorically in a sleep filled voice.

“Most definitely,” Reid rumbled, automatically gripping Chloe’s hand tight as he began to wake up fully. “What time is it?”

“A little before eleven,” Chase answered in a bored tone as he glanced down at the clock.

Chloe yawned and stretched out as much as she could. Her brow furrowed as she felt a stare on her. Looking up, her eyes met Alek’s in the visor mirror, only he wasn’t looking at her. He was looking at her hand; the one encased in Reid’s.

Chloe nibbled on her lower lip as she considered what to do. She didn’t want anyone to think that she and Reid were dating. On the other hand… she really didn’t give a damn what Alek thought.

Deciding to leave her hand where it was, she used her other arm to reach into her purse and grab a granola bar. “I’m starving,” she muttered as she untangled her hand long enough to open the wrapper and break off a piece. She was about to pop it into her mouth when she noticed Reid’s ravenous look. With a knowing smirk, she gently offered the piece to him. He grinned gratefully before reaching out to eat it. She then broke off another piece and offered it to Jasmine who likewise took it. With an amused laugh, Chloe reached into her purse for another and broke it off into three pieces. She ate one, offered the second to Chase and then left the last piece inside the wrapper, but gave it to Alek. Chase grinned gratefully, but Alek accepted the food without a word or even a look.

Chloe let out a small huff at being summarily ignored. She leaned back, resting her head against Reid’s shoulder as she looked out his window. Reid put his arm comfortably around her shoulder as he too began staring out.

After a long while, they finally made it to the hotel where the commercial was being shot. The minute they arrived, Chloe was dragged off into hair and makeup while the others were left to lounge around waiting.

Seeing Jasmine’s bored look, Reid gave a smirk. “You’ll get used to waiting around for Chloe,” he shared. “She gets dragged off a lot and we spend hours watching her work.”

“I don’t know why you follow her around,” a smooth Australian voice interrupted from behind them. The four turned to see a tall blonde haired man with piercing blue eyes in a matching blue business suit. Just as he opened his mouth to speak again, Chloe walked in from wardrobe in nothing but a white button up. “On second thought, I know exactly why you follow her around,” he finished, his eyes trailing up and down her body.

“Alex!” Chloe smiled in greeting, walking over to embrace the man. “I had heard you would be my co-star in this little commercial.”

“Well, I am the face of Dior’s male fragrance line, the same as you are for the women’s,” Alex shrugged modestly. “It would make sense that we would film commercials together.”

“Filming in ten minutes!” an assistant shouted to the room as everyone busied themselves with the finishing touches.

Chloe gave a grin and held up her phone to Alex. “Quick picture?” she asked. Alex smiled and slung a friendly arm around her shoulder as they smiled into her phone. She then quickly uploaded the picture to Twitter along with the message ‘Guess who I’ve got an on-screen kiss with ; ) Gotta go eat garlic & a whole bunch of other gross stuff!’

Alex, who was reading over her shoulder gave a small laugh. “You’d better not,” he scolded lightly before turning to the others. “So, I recognize Chase and Reid, but who are your new friends?”

“This is Alek and Jasmine,” Chloe introduced quickly before she was distracted by an aid and was quickly pulled into position.

As the director said action, Chloe felt herself fall into her character. Alex came up behind where she stood by the kitchen counter. He picked up his briefcase as he got ready to head into work. He put a hand on her back to get her attention and with a fond smile, Chloe turned to face him, allowing him to lean down and gently kiss her cheek. However, instead of pulling away, he noticeably caught a whiff of her perfume and leans in for a passionate kiss.

“Votre travail? (Your job?)” she asked breathlessly as she pulled away.

Alex cupped her face and looked down into her eyes intently. "Je vais téléphoner à malade pour vous. (I will call in sick for you.)" Then he reached down and began spreading passionate little butterfly kisses up and down her throat.

Chloe turned her head as if to give him more access, but looked straight at the camera instead. “Love comes first," she said in an authentic French accent. "J'adore. Dior."

The two paused for a moment frozen as they waited for the director to finally say cut. Then they finally separated with a wide grin on their faces. “Good take,” Alex complimented.

“You too,” she smiled before turning to look at her friends to see what they thought. Chloe froze as she noticed Alek’s burning glare. He was looking at her in pure hatred. Chloe felt her heart thump painfully in her chest, but thankfully both Reid and Chase realized what was going on and came to her rescue.

“You did great, Baby Girl,” Reid smiled as he gave her a quick hug while Chase complimented both she and Alex.

The director had the duo run through it a few more times, but the first take was clearly the smoothest. A worried part of Chloe wondered if it wasn’t because of her. Now that she noticed the way Alek was looking at her, it was like she could feel him burning a hole into her no matter what she did and she was beginning to think it was affecting her acting…


	28. Chapter 28

Chloe slipped out of wardrobe in nothing but a fluffy white robe. She was quickly rushed to the hotel’s bedroom, Alex off to the side getting his suit artfully rumpled as if he’d just come in from a hard day of work at the office. Chloe shrugged off her bathrobe to reveal a strapless bikini underneath and slipped into the bed. After a bit of adjusting under the covers, she stuffed the bikini bottom into the nightstand. She tried her hardest not to blush. She had done plenty of modeling that involved nudity before and having grown up around boys had virtually no modesty, but it was different when one of the people watching you strip was your ex-boyfriend.

Chloe settled into the covers on the left side of the bed, laying on her stomach and an assistant came to arrange her so that she was perfectly photogenic for the scene. Her left leg was tucked out of the blanket and laid on top of the silk comforter, baring skin. The assistant made sure to tug the cover down so that her butt was covered while still displaying skin up to her hip. Then on top of the covers, which were tugged down to reveal her shoulder blades, her left arm was tucked into her body near her chest. The assistant had her turn her head to face the empty right side of the bed, away from the cameras, and stretched her right arm out as if waiting for the empty space to be occupied and a body to slip under her arm.

“We’re good!” the assistant called out to the director who nodded and signaled everybody to start.

Chloe’s back was to the action, so she couldn’t see anything, but her ears recognized the sounds that corresponded to what she already knew was going on from having read the script. She heard Alex’s footsteps getting closer and knew he was acting like he was coming home from a long day at work. Feeling, his presence behind her and hearing a soft thunk, Chloe knew that he had just put down his briefcase by the bed. She was unsurprised when she felt her curled up left hand being tugged away from her body and a soft kiss being pressed into her palm. She felt the breath on her skin as Alex took a deep breath up her inner forearm, acting like he was inhaling her perfume.

Pasting on her best sleepy expression, Chloe turned her head to face him, a soft smile on her lips. Alex grinned, seeing that she was awake and leaned over, turning her body underneath him as he laid on top of her. He buried his face in her neck and inhaled deeply before turning slightly to face the cameras. “Coming home to her,” he spoke with a deep French accent. “J’adore. Dior.” Once more, the two actors waited patiently for the director to call cut before Alex got off of her and she once more lay on her stomach waiting for the assistant to tug her body into position for another take.

As the assistant pulled her body, Chase came over to the other side of the bed. “You hungry?” he asked as he held out a muffin. Apparently at some point during the filming, the customary snacks had been brought in.

“Starving,” Chloe groaned as Chase fed her bits of a blueberry muffin since she couldn’t move.

“That’s one thing I love about your job,” Reid said coming to stand next to Chase. “The food. So fuckin’ good, man,” he groaned as he bit into his double chocolate chip muffin. As he broke off a piece and fed it to Chloe, Jasmine and a reluctant Alek also came to join them. Alek said nothing as he chewed on a cookie, but Jasmine was grinning.

“It’s really cool to see how movie magic is made,” she smiled, completely enchanted with the whole process.

Alex spoke up from the other side of Chloe. “Well, it’s not movie magic, but it is rather cool, isn’t it? I forgot how fun it can be when you’re still new to everything,” he grinned charmingly as he snacked on some carrots and celery.

“Do I hear carrots?” Chloe asked, unable to turn her head to see Alex.

With a chuckle, Alex leaned over her and fed her a baby carrot. “You’re so cute,” he cooed jokingly. “Like a baby- OW!” he yelped when Chloe bit his fingers. “Haven’t you ever heard of not biting the hand that feeds you?” he asked with a scowl while all of her friends laughed.

“No, but I have heard that you should chomp on the idiot that thinks mocking you within biting range is a good idea,” Chloe teased with a smile.

“Alright, we’re ready,” an assistant spoke to the group, ushering everybody out of the camera’s range.

After a couple more takes, Chloe was allowed to redress in her bikini and robe and headed back into wardrobe for her last change. Several hours had gone by and Chloe was getting a bit antsy for the last commercial to be done.

“Is it alright if I stay and watch a take or two?” Alex asked through the wardrobe door, his Australian accent more pronounced.

“Sure,” Chloe agreed, her voice muffled as a gown was placed over her head. After several long minutes, Chloe finally emerged from wardrobe in a beautiful, long golden gown, her hair pinned up into a messy chignon and with jewelry on her ears, around her neck and on her wrist and a small gold clutch tucked under her arm.

“Woah,” she heard both Reid and Chase mutter behind her. It wasn’t that often that she could be seen dressed to the nines like she was.

The camera was positioned in the corner of the foyer and Chloe was ushered outside the room and given a flute of champagne. When given the cue to start she slammed the double doors open and stalked into the foyer. She set her clutch and her champagne on the receiving table and continued to gracefully stalking further into the Presidential Suite. As she walked, she removed her earrings and threw them harshly to the right, away from her. Then she slid off her diamond wrist cuff and this time threw them to the left. Lastly, she reached up to clutch her necklace and yanked, seemingly breaking the clasp, and threw that too away. As she finally began to reach the end of the foyer, she reached up behind her back and unzipped the dress, gracefully stepping out of it without tripping or messing up her tempo. “Lay it all bare,” she finally spoke in a thick accent. “J’adore. Dior.” Finally, she turned to enter a room, giving the camera a chance to tape her in her heels walking away.

“Cut!” the director called.

Chloe was left dressed in nothing but a skin-tight, nude colored, strapless dress with the gold sandals that matched the original gown. She was on her way back to wardrobe to put the clothes back on for another take when Alex stopped her.

“You were great,” he grinned at her. Chloe, normally 5’7, usually had strain herself a bit to look up at Alex who was about 6’1. However, in her gold six inch platform sandals, she reached almost 5’11 making it much easier to look the blond boy in the eye.

“Thanks!” she smiled. “You were great too.”

“We make a good team,” his grin turned a bit lecherous. “Are you seeing anybody?” Alex asked, reaching out to rest a hand on her hip.

Unwillingly, her eyes strayed to Alek who was glaring rather fiercely at the exchange several feet away. With his Mai hearing, she was certain that he could – and probably was – listening in on every word.

With a slightly vindictive smirk, Chloe turned her gaze back to Alex. “Nope. Why? You interested?” she replied flirtatiously. She and Alex had dated briefly in the past but with both of their different commitments that took them all over the world, had broken up after a scant four months together.

“Maybe,” he returned the flirtation. “Call me next time you’re in LA. I’ve actually put down some roots here.”

 

”Will do,” Chloe smiled genuinely before graciously accepting the peck on the cheek that he offered and returning it with a peck of her own. “I’ll talk to you soon,” she waved as he left.

“You’re getting yourself into some hot water, Baby Girl,” Reid muttered lowly as he came up behind her, but other than that said nothing. Chloe reached out and gave his hand a quick squeeze before leaving for wardrobe so that she could get re-dressed for the next take. That small squeeze was all that was necessary for her to communicate her thoughts to the blond boy. She had no intention of using Alex and very probably would not be calling him anytime soon. She had just flirted lightly to get back at Alek, but Alex was a friend and she would never hurt him by using his feelings for her own gain.

A little over an hour later and Chloe was back in her pajamas ready to return home. “I need food, ASAP,” she moaned pitifully. All she’d had for breakfast was a bite of a granola bar and she’d barely had time to eat lunch between takes, mostly only eating what her friends fed her.

“P.F. Chang’s?” Chase asked half knowingly, half hopefully.

“Fuck yeah!” Reid cheered as Chase turned left and headed to their favorite Chinese restaurant in the area.

As the group waited for their food to arrive, Reid and Chase both became alert as two men began moving closer to them. They were young, probably in their early twenties, but the Order moved through generations of families, so it was entirely possible that these boys were a threat.

“Excuse me?” one of the boys asked as he came up to the table. He looked down at Chloe, all of his attention focused on her. “Are you Chloe King?” he asked, shifting on his feet nervously.

Chloe put down the tea cup she had been drinking out of. “I am.”

“Can we have your autograph!” the other boy jumped in as soon as she finished speaking. Everybody at the table relaxed. It was just a couple of guys; no one trying to kill Chloe.

Chloe signed their books and even took pictures with them on their phones. She chatted with them agreeably and the fans left as the food arrived.

“Wow,” Jasmine commented as soon as they left the restaurant. “I knew you were famous, but I guess I didn’t really realize it until now. Does that happen often?”

Chloe shrugged and slid into the car. “Often enough,” she replied.

“Doesn’t it make protecting Chloe difficult?” Alek asked. This was the first thing he’d spoken all day and it wasn’t even directed at her.

“Sometimes,” Chase replied. “But it also means that there are eyes constantly on her when she’s in public. No Order member is going to be able to kidnap her off the streets. Everybody becomes our eyes; everybody becomes her bodyguard.”


	29. Chapter 29

“Okay, what the hell was up with you today?” Jasmine asked the minute she and Alek were alone.

“What are you talking about?” he asked as he meandered over to the fridge to grab a bottle of water.

Jasmine looked at him incredulously as she moved to the kitchen counter and sat at one of the stools facing him. “You and Chloe. You said two words the whole trip and the rest of the time you were glaring. What’s going on? Did you two get into a fight?”

Alek scoffed. It was his turn to look at her incredulously. “Yeah, we got into a fight. Three days ago. We’re broken up,” he informed her.

The brunette looked at him blankly. “Wait, what? Where was I?”

“That’s what I’d like to know,” he replied moving to stand across from her at the counter. “Where have you been? You haven’t been around lately and I can’t remember the last time I saw you.”

Jasmine blushed lightly but willed herself not to look away from his probing eyes. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’ve just been a bit busy lately, that’s all.”

Alek nodded with a smirk. “Okay… Now the truth.”

She scowled at him, hopping off her stool and heading into the living room. “That is the truth.”

“Jasmine,” Alek said warningly, following her to the couch. “If you don’t want me to tell Valentina that you’re shirking Uniter duty, tell me.”

With a sigh, the girl crossed her arms and gave in. “I’ve been… seeing someone.”

“Like a boy? On dates?” Alek asked incredulously. “Since when do you date?” He let out a laugh when Jasmine smacked him harshly on the arm. “Alright, seriously then. Who is it? Another Mai?”

Jasmine shook her head. “I’ve been seeing Caleb,” she finally admitted.

“Danvers?” he asked stupidly before shaking his head. “No, right. Sorry, dumb question. When did this happen?”

“Not that- Hey, no, wait a second. We’re talking about you and Chloe,” Jasmine turned to look at him in annoyance for turning the tables on her. “What happened?”

Alek gave a sigh before sitting down at one of the stools, still playing with his water bottle. “I found out she’s been seeing this guy on the side.”

“What?” Jasmine said incredulously. “Chloe would never cheat on you.”

“Well, she did,” Alek scowled, standing up in anger. How could his own cousin not take his side? “She was dating this bloke named Brian-”

“Oooh.” Jasmine nodded in understanding. “Brian wasn’t her boyfriend, he was her mark,” she explained.

“What?” Alek asked in surprise before the shock turned into anger. “You knew about him too?”

The girl shifted awkwardly under the weight of his accusation. “We met Brian when we went out shopping once. Chloe recognized his last name. His father is head of the San Francisco faction of the Order. Chloe has been using Brian to try and get intel on the Order. So far it seems like Brian has no clue what his father really does, but she’s been working on getting an invitation to his house so that she can look through Mr. Rezza’s office.”

Alek gaped at his cousin. “Okay, first off, that is the worst plan I have ever heard. What happens if she gets caught? We’ll have handed the Uniter right into their laps.”

Jasmine rolled her eyes. “I thought of that. The Order has no idea who the Uniter is. Rezza’s hardly going to suspect his son’s friend. Also, every time they’ve met up, I’ve been there to watch Chloe’s back.”

“Every time?” Alek asked jealously. “How often have they been out together?”

Jasmine shrugged. “A handful of times.” She looked at the blond carefully. “Is this what your fight was about? Are you jealous of Brian?”

Alek scowled. “No. Why would I be jealous of a human?”

She smiled softly, amused at her cousin’s antics. “Chloe and Brian are just friends. Yes, Brian’s into her, but she’s only interested in you. She made sure to tell Brian that she only wanted friendship from him. She’d never betray you.”

“Then why did she have to be the one? Why couldn’t you befriend him?” he asked still scowling.

Jasmine shrugged. “I wasn’t the one he talked to.”

“Well, if it was all so platonic then why didn’t she just bloody tell me!?”

The brunette blinked in surprise before wincing. “Alek…” He just looked away angrily. He hated when she got that pitying tone of voice. “I was the one who told Chloe not to tell you,” she admitted.

Alek’s head whirled back around in surprise. “What?” he asked.

“I knew that you’d get angry and jealous and you and Chloe had only just started dating…” she tried to explain. “I just thought it would be a good idea to hold off on telling you until we’d actually found something.”

“What if she’d been taken or hurt?” he asked in anger. “And I didn’t know about your little side mission?”

“The Covenant knew,” Jasmine offered meekly. Alek just glared in response. “Okay, I know. I’m sorry. I should have let her tell you from the start. She wanted to,” she offered up.

At her words, the anger drained out of Alek. Chloe hadn’t purposely kept this from him. She wasn’t hiding some affair. She was working. She wanted to tell him the truth but Jasmine advised her not to. She wanted to tell him.

“Shit,” he said in realization. “I’ve been a right prat to her for days. She’s never going to forgive me!”

Jasmine reached out and gently laid a hand on his arm. “She will,” the brunette reassured. “But Alek, do you really think the secrecy about Brian was what really caused this mess?”

“What do you mean?” he asked in confusion.

“Do you know what I think? I think that you’re scared.” Jasmine raised up a hand to stall Alek when he began spluttering about not being scared of anything. “Chloe’s not like you or me. She can date anybody; human or Mai. She has all these options – hell, she lives with four of them – and the only other person you have is Mimi.” She paused as she watched her words sink in. “But you are the one Chloe chose. Chloe likes you… Or at least she did. Before you started acting like a jerk.”

Alek winced at her words knowing that they were right. He stood and made for the door. He had to talk to Chloe ASAP. He had to make this right.

~

“Chloe!” Alek yelled out. He had just arrived at her house to find her on her way out. He sprinted up the driveway to meet her.

The blonde blinked in surprise at his sudden appearance. “What do you want Alek?” she asked tiredly.

“Look, I’m sorry,” he said as his chest heaved slightly as he fought to catch a bit of breath. “I’ve been acting like a jerk.”

“Yeah, you have,” she acknowledged.

Alek stared at her for a second. He’d never seen her act so coldly before. “Please, will you forgive me?” he asked.

Chloe cocked her head to the side in thought. “Why did you act like such a jerk?”

“I thought that you hid your thing with Brian because you were hiding something; because it was more than just a job. But I talked to Jasmine. She told me that you wanted to tell me the truth but that she was the one who stopped you. I know now that you wanted to tell me; that you weren’t trying to hide anything,” Alek explained giving half of the truth.

Once more Chloe took a moment to consider his words. As she carefully pondered and weighed his actions against his explanation, she nodded. “Alright,” she said with a small smile. “I forgive you.”

Alek gave a bright grin and reached down to hug her and gave a quick twirl. He set her down and leaned down to kiss her when she suddenly halted his movements, putting a hand to his chest.

“Woah,” she said, taking a step back. “I forgive you. But that doesn’t mean we’re back together or anything.”

Alek blinked uncomprehendingly. “What?” he asked in surprise.

“We’re cool, we’re friends, but I don’t give second chances to ex-boyfriends,” she stated clearly. “I’m sorry, but I don’t. I forgive you for acting like a jerk, but it doesn’t change anything. You hurt me. I’m sorry, but we’re still done.” With these last words, she walked away.


	30. Chapter 30

Alek hesitantly knocked on the door. It took several seconds before Tyler opened the door. "Oh," the brunet said coolly when he noticed the Mai. "Chloe just left. She and Amy are going shopping. I think she was actually heading to your place to pick up Jasmine."

Alek winced. "Yeah, I know. I'm here to talk to you. All of you, actually."

Tyler raised a curious eyebrow but stepped to the side to allow the boy to come in. "GUYS!" he yelled up the stairs. It took a minute for all of the boys to congregate in the living room.

"What does he want?" Reid sneered the minute his eyes laid on Alek. Alek sneered back, but his wasn't as forceful. He knew that Reid had a legitimate reason to be pissed off at him, after all.

"I…" Alek ran a hand through his hair. "I guess I need your help." With these words, everyone turned serious and looked at him inquiringly. "I screwed up with Chloe, I know that. And I don't know how to fix it."

"Ah," Caleb replied as they all relaxed. They thought he needed help with some Order problem. A Chloe problem was much easier.

"You can't," Reid smirked.

"What?" Alek asked.

"You can't fix this problem," Chase clarified for the blond.

The other four Covenant boys exchanged looks before they all stood up as one. "This one's all yours," Pogue said as he gave a small smirk and clapped Chase on the shoulder as they all vacated the room.

Chase shook his head in annoyance but knew that it was true. He had to be the one to explain this to Alek. "Chloe doesn't give second chances. Not to people who have hurt her," he said simply, hoping that Alek would accept the easy answer.

"What do you mean she doesn't give second chances?" Alek asked in confusion.

Chase gave a small sigh. Okay, the long answer it was. "Did Chloe ever tell you about me? About our relationship?"

"No," Alek answered, unsure what this had to do with Chloe giving second chances.

Great. It looked like he would have to explain straight from the beginning. "It was my senior year of high school. Chloe was sixteen," Chase started. "I was… a different person back then," he said as his eyes glazed in remembrance. "I was addicted to magic and was willing to do anything for it. I had this plan to infiltrate the Covenant, befriend them, and then use them in order to increase my own power. Chloe was part of that plan."

Alek looked at him in complete surprise. It was hard to believe. The Covenant was so close and tight-knit, including Chase. It was weird to think that it might not have always been that way; that once, Chase was an enemy.

"I didn't meet her until after I transferred into Spencer. The Power is only given to the oldest male so you can imagine my surprise to find a girl in the Covenant. It took a bit of careful observation and more than a little bit of stalking to find out that she was a witch. And of course that only confused me even more." Chase smirked in remembrance. "So I got close to her. I was curious about her, but also she was obviously in the inner circle and I knew that I could use her against Caleb and the others."

The Mai stared at him curiously. It was hard to believe that someone would use Chloe like that and yet still live. Everyone knew how vengeful the Covenant was. Perhaps it was only because he was a Covenant member, and thus a member of their family, that saved his life.

"As we started dating, I began to genuinely like Chloe. I cared for her and became reluctant to use her in my plot. I changed my plans in order to avoid her all together so that she wouldn't be hurt. I guess the boys felt the same because our entire confrontation occurred without Chloe knowing about it until afterwards.

"After that, I delved into my magic, learning the basics that I should have learned as a child. It made me realize how much I'd missed by not growing up with the Covenant. I returned to Ipswich and begged the Heads of the families to allow me to study the family books and they did. But in exchange, I swore loyalty to the Covenant never to betray them again.

"That was the first time I'd seen Chloe since the fight. She was angry and it was understandable. I'd used her. And despite the fact that I couldn't go through with it, despite our genuine connection and despite the oath I swore to never betray her or the others again, she could never trust me again. Eventually we made it back to a place where we could become friends, but Chloe will never trust me with her heart again. Chloe does not give second chances," Chase finished.

Alek pondered on the boy's words for a moment. "What about Reid? They've been on and off for years, right?" he asked with a grimace. He really didn't like to think about the fact that Chloe lived with several of her ex-boyfriends and he really didn't like to think about her past relationship with Reid. Despite her closeness with all of her 'brothers', it was her relationship with Reid that worried him the most and made him the most jealous. There was still something between them, Alek could tell.

"Ah." Chase nodded. "Now that is a completely different story. Before I came to Ipswich, Chloe and Reid had dated, although that was a complicated mess." Chase rolled his eyes. "But their break up was amiable. After I broke Chloe's heart, she became harder, colder. She stopped having real relationships and preferred one night stands. Reid was the only person she let in, even just a little bit. He was the only boy she came back to more than once during this period; the only one she allowed herself to rely on romantically.

"Despite their many make ups and break ups, they never hurt each other. Not once has their break ups been anything other than mutual and amicable – which probably says something to how similar they are and how well they know each other," Chase said thoughtfully. "That is the reason why Reid has been the only person Chloe has ever gone back to. Ever," Chase emphasized.

Alek nodded as though he understood, but his eyes reflected the fact that he was no longer pay attention. It didn't matter what Chase said. Alek would find a way to get Chloe to forgive him. "Thanks for the help," he said, getting up and walking toward the door.

"Don't mention it," Chase replied, although a skeptical eyebrow illustrated that he didn't think Alek understood their conversation at all.

Alek left the house and began walking down the driveway when he noticed Chloe's car parked in the garage. While he and Chase had been talking, Chloe must have returned home.

Wanting another chance to speak with her, Alek went to the side of the house and, using his Mai skills, jumped to land on her balcony. He could hear her talking to someone, but could tell that she was alone in the room. He gently knocked, but hearing no answer from her, opened the door and let himself in.

"No really, I promise. I really needed a stress reliever and today was great." Chloe grinned into her phone. "I didn't mind the interruption at all. Okay, yeah. I'll talk to you soon. Bye, Brian."

Alek froze. Brian? He had assumed that she was on the phone with Amy or even Jasmine since she had claimed that she was going out shopping with the girls, but Brian? She had spent the day out on a date with that human? An Order member's son? "You're still talking to that kid?" he asked angrily, startling Chloe.

"Alek, what are you doing here?" she asked, her hand to her chest as she tried to keep her heart from jumping out of her body.

"I wanted to talk to you so I came through the balcony." He nodded to the open pair of French doors. "Now, I asked you a question and I would appreciate an answer."

Chloe crossed her arms defensively. "I know this might be hard for you to understand, but Brian is my friend. Just because I couldn't get Order information out of him doesn't mean I can't still talk to him."

"That's exactly what it means," Alek argued. "It's too dangerous for you to be around him. It was dangerous when you were trying to dig up information and now that there's no benefit, there's even more reason for you to stay away from him."

"Brian isn't his father," Chloe replied. "He hasn't done anything wrong and I'm not going to cut off my friend just because of his father."

"No, you're going to cut off your friend because your life is at risk!" he yelled in exasperation.

"You know what? I don't even know why I'm bothering to argue with you about this." Chloe scoffed as she gripped Alek's arm tightly and dragged him out of her room and into the hallway. "Who I'm friends with is none of your business," she stated before slamming the door in his face.

Alek gaped at the wood in shock. He'd gone in there to apologize and somehow ended up in even more hot water with Chloe than before. How did that even work?

"The worst thing you can do is tell Chloe 'no'," a familiar voice said behind him. Alek turned to face Tyler. Tyler and Chloe lived together; he was the closest thing she had to a genuine brother. "The more you deny her something, the more she'll want it and, in case you hadn't noticed yet, Chloe always gets what she wants. By trying to stop her from seeing Brian all you're doing is angering her, ostracizing yourself and making her want Brian all the more. Right now she sees him as a friend, but the more you push her towards him and yourself away, the easier it will be for her to begin to see him as more than just a friend." With this last bit of sage advice, Tyler turned on his heel and returned to his room, leaving Alek alone to ponder on the boy's words.


	31. Chapter 31

Chloe groaned as she entered her room after a long day at school. She just wasn’t sure where she stood with everybody. Jasmine had been in her own little world lately with Caleb and had only just noticed the problems going on between Chloe and Alek. Now things were awkward because Chloe had said that she’d be friends with Alek but that was before he got all pissy about Brian again. Now she was pissed all over again.

And Alek had been looking at her weirdly all day. Half the time he looked annoyed and the other half, apologetic and yet he still hadn’t said two words to her all day. What did that even mean?

Chloe collapsed back on top of her bed. Boys! What the hell! They should come with their own instruction manual or translation guide or something.

“Bad time?” a familiar British voice asked, startling her out of her mental rant. Looking up, Chloe noticed Alek standing in front of her desk clearly having come through her balcony doors yet again. This time he was holding a bouquet of a dozen roses. “These are for you,” he stated obviously, holding them out for her.

Chloe sat up and gently reached out to grasp them. No one had ever given her flowers before, let alone roses. The closest she’d gotten was a corsage from Caleb on Prom night back when they were still dating her freshman year. “They’re beautiful,” she admitted, leaning in to inhale, partly to smell but mostly to hide her soppy grin.

“I wanted to say that I’ve talked with your brothers-” Alek started.

“You have?” Chloe asked, startled. None of her boyfriends had ever dared talk to her family. She knew that the boys were scary, overprotective guys and it didn’t help that half of them were her ex-boyfriends.

Alek nodded. “Yeah. And they gave me some advice which I have decided to take.” Chloe turned to look at him fully, interested to hear what they told him. “I need to stop being so jealous,” Alek said, putting it bluntly. “I’m sorry that I was such a jerk. The truth is I was scared. I’m Mai and you’re not. You have all of these options; you can date anyone you’d like. I get scared that you’ll find someone else; someone better. You have the freedom to date whoever you want and I worry about that sometimes,” he admitted.

Chloe looked up at him in kind awe. No one had ever been that bluntly honest about their emotions with her before – especially not a boy. “I would never cheat on you,” she said instead.

“I know that,” Alek replied. “I was just being stupid. I saw you with this human and I freaked out. I’m sorry, Chloe.”

Chloe hesitated before giving him a small smile. “I forgive you.”

Alek looked at her uncertainly. “So you’ll give me another chance?” he asked. “As your boyfriend,” he clarified, remembering the last time he thought she was giving him another chance.

Chloe nibbled on her lower lip as she visibly thought. She’d never given a boyfriend a second chance before. Then again, no one had ever been as completely honest with her as he had. Alek took a huge risk laying his feelings out bare for her. “Alright. One more chance,” she agreed. Alek whooped and scooped her into a huge hug causing her to laugh. “But if you mess this up…” she warned seriously once he’d put her down.

“I won’t,” he swore. “I can’t promise that I’ll like Brian or like that you meet up with him, but I won’t be such a jerk about your friendship anymore.”

“Deal.” Chloe smiled, leaning up for a kiss.  
~  
“What the-” Reid did a double take as he noticed the couple walking towards him. “Did I just enter the Twilight zone?” he asked the others as they all glued their eyes to Chloe and Alek who were holding hands and smiling at each other, clearly back together.

“How the hell did he get Chloe to give him a second chance?” Pogue wondered. Even for all his skill at reading people, he had no idea how this happened.

“Hey, baby girl,” Caleb greeted once the couple was close enough. “You guys are back together?” he asked.

“Yep,” Chloe replied. The others looked at her, waiting for more, but Chloe kept her lips shut. It wasn’t up to her to spill Alek’s confession. If they wanted to know how the Brit did it, well tough luck.

“Chloe!” the photographer yelled, drawing the teens back into reality. “You’re here! Good, let’s get this going.” He directed her toward where a tall ladder was waiting for her.

“Gotta get to work.” Chloe grinned at the boys before heading into the depths of the new Diesel ‘Be Stupid’ photo shoot. She climbed the ladder and perched at the top, ready for the photographer to ready himself.

“Okay!” the photographer yelled causing Chloe to lift up her top, baring her bra clad chest to the fake security camera mounted to the wall. The theme of the ‘Be Stupid’ campaign was to photograph teens doing dumb things… such as flashing a security camera. “Good, good,” the photographer said as he grabbed the images. “Tilt your… good, good. Okay, let’s move on,” he announced, finishing the quick shoot in order to move onto the next.

A small team removed the security camera and the ladder and gave Chloe a spray pain bottle. Behind her, an actor dressed as a cop, crossed his arms attempting to look stern as Chloe pretended to graffiti the wall. “Good, good,” the photographer muttered again.

Lastly, Chloe made her way to a small fountain where an actor was already sitting waiting. He was splayed out on the concrete fountain rim, his shirt ripped, revealing a toned chest and killer abs, and his jeans unbuttoned.

Chloe sent a wary look at Alek who luckily didn’t notice. This would be the first test of Alek’s jealousy. She straddled the actor and slipped off her shirt, leaning down so that her hair covered her face as she put her head into the guy’s neck as though she were laying kisses.

“Put your hand on his jeans please,” the photographer instructed. “No, never mind. Put it on his stomach. Lower. Yes, that’s it. Perfect. Can I get the extras to crowd around a little bit? Thank you.”

She heard the snaps of the photographer but nothing else. The last ‘Be Stupid’ ad was having sex in public and she knew how wound up this picture must have made Alek. When they were finished, she cautiously looked at her boyfriend to find him staring coolly back at her. He didn’t seem angry but he didn’t seem pleased either.

“Are you ready?” he asked once she was near. She nodded hesitantly. “Okay, then let’s get out of here.” He grabbed her hand and led her away.

Chloe looked at him strangely, but he didn’t appear to notice. He hadn’t said a word or made any outbursts. It seemed like he was reigning in his temper which was all she could really ask of him anyway.

“Are you okay?” she asked hesitantly, once they’d left the shoot.

Alek gripped her hand tighter. “I don’t like it, but I promised that I’d deal, so I’m dealing,” he answered honestly.

She bit her lip and stayed silent for another minute. “Where are we going?” she finally asked.

This made Alek smirk. He said nothing, just continued to lead her. Soon they stopped in front of a very familiar ice cream shop. “Hungry?” he asked.

Chloe looked at him suspiciously, but the look was ruined by the growing smile on her face. “Are you trying to re-create our first date?” she asked.

Alek shrugged. “Minus the blood and magic.”

Chloe smiled at him fully. This time she was the one to drag him by his hand as they went inside the shop. If this was how he planned on re-kindling their relationship, it was a good place to start.


	32. Chapter 32

“Chloe!” Reid called out as he darted into her room. Not spotting her immediately, he walked into her closet and found her. “I just got a call from the label. It looks like your albums done. They went over everything, approved the sound, we’re good.”

Chloe gave him a large grin as she went over to hug him tightly. “Finally!” she cheered. “I thought I was going to be working on that thing until I was old and grey.”

Reid laughed. “I know, right? Now we just need to wait while the label makes the CDs and picks a release date.” Sitting down on her bed he looked at what she had been doing before he walked in. “You still haven’t picked a dress yet?” he asked. “The ceremony’s tonight.”

Chloe scowled at the reminder of her procrastination. “I know. I’ll pick something,” she assured him.

Reid raised an eyebrow before checking his phone for the time. “You leave in less than half an hour for LA,” he reminded.

“So stop talking and let me concentrate!” she snapped before immediately turning apologetic. “Sorry.”

“What’s going on with you?” he asked. “Is this about Alek? You didn’t have to forgive him if you weren’t feeling it.”

Chloe shook her head. “No. I mean sort of. I wanted to forgive Alek, but I feel like I’m walking on glass now. I worry that I’m going to set him off.”

“Relationships should be like that,” Reid replied. He wasn’t for or against Alek. He was Pro-Chloe. If Alek made her happy then that was that. But if he was upsetting her… well, then he’d have a bunch of angry brothers on his ass.

“It will get better,” she reassured him. “It’s just tough because we’re still working though this.”

“Is that why you didn’t invite him to be your date tonight?” Reid asked.

Chloe nodded absentmindedly as she continued to search through the formal dress section of her closet. “We’re still kind of rocky and I didn’t want to put him in a situation where he might have to deal with flirty guys around me. Also, if people here saw him on tv, they’d instantly figure out who I am.”

“Yeah, I can’t believe people still haven’t figured out that Chloe Simms is Chloe King,” Reid replied skeptically.

“Hey,” she returned sharply, turning to face him. “Don’t jinx this. It’s nice not being stalked by paparazzi or mobbed by fans.” She scowled until Reid put up his arms in surrender. Turning back to her dresses she gave a groan. “I don’t know what to wear!”

With a very put upon sigh, Reid stood up and walked over to her. He took about two seconds to flip through her rack of gowns before pulling one out and handing it to her. “Here.”

Chloe looked down at the gown in awe. It was a [gold and cream Alexander McQueen](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/00068rht) floor length dress that she absolutely adored and hadn’t had a chance to wear yet. “How do you do that?” she asked with a small pout.

Reid shrugged. “I have four sisters.”

The strawberry blonde laughed. “Yeah, but one isn’t even born yet. And you don’t know for sure that she’s going to be a girl. Your parents want to keep it a surprise.”

“I’m dreading that occurrence,” Reid admitted easily as he watched Chloe turn to pick out heels now. “And let’s be honest. It's going to be a girl. Mom’s already had three girls. If the Covenant didn’t force a boy to have the power I would probably have been a girl – don’t tell any of the guys I just said that!” he warned. “Justice already thinks she’s a princess, Honor’s convinced she’s a pop diva – and you don’t help that delusion at all,” he teased Chloe, “and don’t even get me started on Essence. She may be a jeans and a t-shirt kind of girl now, but before…” Reid gave a theatrical shudder at the thought of his older sister.

“Hey, it’s either me or Lady Gaga,” Chloe teased back. “Be glad you’ve got me.”

Reid watched as Chloe pondered on her shoes some more. “You know that no one will be able to eve see your shoes, right? Your dress is too long,” he pointed out logically. “I mean, you could even wear flip flops and no one would know any better.” Chloe looked at her selection of flip flops contemplatively. “That was a joke,” Reid hurried to add.

Chloe laughed and plucked out a pair of [gold Tabitha Simmons booties](http://pics.livejournal.com/tenshinrtaiga/pic/00069ax5). “I’m ready,” she declared.

“And just in time,” Reid replied, glancing at the time. “Our limo should be out front to take you to the hotel in LA where your team of hair and makeup artists await to prettify you,” he joked. “Are you sure you don’t want me to grab my tux?” he asked. “I can’t remember the last time you went to one of these events without a date even when that date was just one of us.”

Chloe shook her head. “No, I don’t want Alek getting the wrong idea. What kind of girlfriend doesn’t invite her boyfriend to be her date, but instead invites one of her exes?”

Reid shrugged but had no response. “Okay. We’ll be close by in case something happens, but you’ll be alone inside.”

~

Chloe had barely gotten home from her whirlwind night in LA when her phone rang. It was two o’clock in the morning. Who on earth could be calling her? “Hello?” she asked, throwing herself face down on her bed.

“Chloe! Oh my god, first off, I saw you on tv today! Your dress was magnificent!” Amy squealed.

“Thanks, Ames.” Chloe smiled despite herself. “Is that why you called?” she asked.

“Uhm, no,” the brunette admitted. “I got an email from a friend. Someone recognized you and now it’s all over school that Chloe King goes there.”

Chloe blinked, but didn’t say anything. To be honest, what she told Reid earlier was true. It was a miracle that no one had realized the truth before now. “Is that all they’re saying?” she asked instead.

“Yeah. Half of them can’t believe it, but everyone knows it’s true. In fact, everyone’s talking about how you’re all famous and stuff, but dating Alek. I think he just became even more popular.” Amy laughed.

“Didn’t know that was possible.” Chloe smiled back. “Thanks for the heads up,” she said as the two girls said good night. Chloe went to sleep knowing that school would be very interesting in the morning.

She had barely pulled her Audi into her favorite parking space when she was already crowded by her classmates. She had to push to get her car door open and once she was out, she was totally swarmed.

“Get out of my way!” a familiar British voice called, shoving through the students. Behind him was Jasmine helping to clear the way. Alek made it to her and grabbed her hand, leading her through the crowd while Jasmine continued to fend off the curious students.

“Thanks,” Chloe breathed lowly, knowing that with their Mai hearing they’d be able to pick her words up.

Both Mai gave a quick nod of acknowledgement before they continued what they were doing. Alek brought Chloe inside and to her locker where Amy and Paul were waiting. Amy was even holding a coffee cup for the girl, knowing that she would need it.

“Thank you,” Chloe groaned as she took a sip.

“Don’t mention it,” Amy replied seriously. “Now let’s get you to your first period so that you won’t be swarmed.”

~

“Hi, Brian. Sorry I’m late. You wouldn’t believe the day I had,” Chloe apologized as she sat down at their table.

“It’s cool. I kind of figured you might have a tough day,” he replied. When she gave him a questioning look, he shrugged awkwardly. “I, uh, caught you on tv last night.”

“Oh.” Chloe nodded. Another one who caught her identity. That wasn’t good. Unlike the kids at school, Brian’s father worked for the Order. If anyone could put together Chloe King, model, actress and singer as the Uniter, it would be Whitley Rezza. Chloe was in some deep trouble.

“So, being famous… what’s that like?” he asked, mostly to try and release the tension in the air.

Chloe gave a light laugh. “Not bad. Growing up, it was no big deal. I went to a private school so everyone was rich and my fame never mattered. But the kids at my public school just found out too and they pretty much mobbed me when I got there this morning.”

“Are you okay?” he asked worriedly.

“Yeah,” she replied nodding. “Alek got me out okay.”

“Alek?” Brian asked surprised. “Your ex?”

Chloe winced. “Oh, no. We’re, uh. We’re back together.” She knew that Brian had a bit of a thing for her, but she tried really hard not to lead him on. She really wasn’t that interested in him romantically. She just wanted to be friends. When he found out that she and Alek broke up, he gave her some room, but lately he’d been pushing the boundaries, trying to feel her out and see whether she’d be interested in more.

“Oh,” he replied stunned. “I didn’t know that. When did that happen?”

“Uhm, a little less than a week ago,” she answered, a little uncomfortably. “He apologized for getting jealous and explained his thoughts and issues and now we’re good.”

“But he didn’t go with you last night.”

“No.” Chloe shook her head lightly. “I had hoped that the students wouldn’t find out about me. That turned out to be in vain.” She didn’t want to bring up her hesitance with Alek. It was something that only time could cure and she didn’t want Brian thinking it was a weakness he could act on.

“Huh,” Brian replied as he took a sip of coffee, clearly unhappy with this news. “You know what? I actually forgot that I had a meeting today. I better go,” he said standing up.

Chloe stood too. It was easy to see that her news had upset him and that he was ditching her, but she was more than happy to let him escape. “Oh, okay. See you later?”

“Yeah, I’ll-” Whatever he was about to was cut off as an unfamiliar voice interrupted.

“Brian?”

Brian and Chloe turned to find an older brunet man in a suit. Chloe winced and wished that she had brought one of her brothers as back up or even Jasmine or Alek. Unfortunately, she had chosen to meet Brian alone.

“Dad!” Brian replied, clearly surprised to see his father.

“What are you doing here?” the older man asked before turning to face Chloe. “And who’s your friend?”

“Oh, uh, Chloe this is my dad, Whitley Rezza. Dad, this is my friend Chloe King,” Brian introduced awkwardly.

In that moment, Chloe saw what was quite possibly the worst thing possible, in Whitley’s eyes. She saw recognition. Whitley Rezza knew who she was. She’d been made.

End of Book 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you believe this is the end? This is the last chapter of The Witch Uniter. But don't worry, I'm already working on the sequel ;)


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